River erosion turns critical in Bogura

The Jamuna has turned into a fierce river with strong currents and whirlpool vortices aggressively crashing into the riverbanks at Dhunot upazila of Bogura.

On Monday, a 75-metre stretch of the river bank protection spur in the upazila collapsed for third time in a matter of hours.

People living along the riverside say public and private properties along the flood control embankment are at potential risk of being devoured by the river.

The water level of the Jamuna River had been on a constant rise for the past several days, said locals.

Locals also said they are worried about the safety of their lives and property.

Bogra District Water Development Board (WDB) Assistant Engineer Humayun Kabir said the rapid erosion at the Jamuna riverbank in the upazila has become a matter of extreme panic among its people.

WDB started to work to protect the project from the erosion, he added.

The Business Post also published reports when the river erosion first started on August 5.

The reports said heavy current on River Jamuna devoured a 50-metre stretch of the Jumna river bank protection spur in Dhunat of Bogura.

The continued erosion of riverbank triggered fear among people residing on of the riverbanks after Dhunat upazila administration has asked them to evacuate the area soon.

WDB Executive Engineer Mahbubur Rahman said he visited the site and sand-filled geo bags would be placed on the riverbank to prevent further erosion. The WDB workers also dumped concrete blocks on the river bank and the repair work will be completed soon, said Mahbubur.

Baniajan spur was built at Bhandarbari union of the Dhunat in 2003 at a cost of Tk 11 crore to protect the area from the river erosion.

But due to heavy water flow in the Jamuna River there created a strong whirlpool near the riverbank triggered erosion.

Locals said emergence of new shoals on the river Jamuna was obstructing water-flow and results in erosion of riverbank.

If the collapsed spur was not repaired immediately, a number of villages will be affected, they said.

Another 100- metre portion of the riverbank on the south side of the Bhandarbari High School in Dhunat had collapsed in few hours on May 26.

Nibaran Chandra, deputy assistant engineer of the Water Development Board in Bogra, then said the situation would deteriorate if the erosion was not prevented.