Faridpur’s Swapnanagar at risk of erosion

Swapnanagar, a special housing project under the Prime Minister's Ashrayan Project on 33 acres of land in Katlasur village of Faridpur's Alfadanga upazila, is under threat of erosion by the Madhumati River. 

The Swapnanagar shelter project was set up in Mujib Borsho. In that shelter project, houses with land were handed over to 286 families in October 2020. 

Lawmaker Monzur Hossain inaugurated the housing project with modern facilities for landless and homeless families in 2021.

The project, which is a fully modern and model housing area, includes mosques, temples, bazaars, playgrounds, graveyards, community clinics, children's parks, eco-parks, and social forestry.

In the last three years, the houses of 600 families within the project have been washed away by the Madhumati River. 

Currently, about 1,000 families are under threat. If the administration does not take immediate steps, these houses will quickly disappear, said locals. 

Although they organised human-chain demonstrations several times, demanding effective measures to protect the riverbank, the authorities did not pay any heed.

Various establishments, including a government primary school and an old mosque in Bajra village, have been destroyed due to erosion. The largest village of the Gopalpur union ended up at the bottom of the Madhumati.

According to locals, the erosion of the Madhumati River has recently intensified in five villages of the  Gopalpur union—Chhatiagati, Dignagar, Kholabaria, Katlarsur, and Paganbeg.

Apart from this, river erosion is also affecting riverbanks in Bajra, Banshtala, South Char Narandia, West Char Narandia and neighbouring villages including Panchuria, Togarband and Bana unions. 

In less than two years, vast croplands, houses, schools, mosques, and other structures have been destroyed.

The residents of the housing project are now worried about losing their houses due to river erosion.

Residents of the shelter said they received houses as a gift from the prime minister. They will have to return to the road if they lose this shelter.

Mukul Hossain Bisha Mia of Chhatiagati village said they had more than 30 acres of land on the banks of Madhumati and almost every bit of it is gone, except for the homestead, which is now also on the verge of collapse.

Alfadanga Upazila Chairman AKM Zahidul Islam said the erosion of the Madhumati has been mentioned many times in various important meetings of the district and upazila but calls have always gone unheeded.

Local MP Manzur Hossain Bulbul and Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar visited the affected area on several occasions, but no comprehensive measures have been taken to prevent erosion.

He added that the expectation is that the government will take the necessary action after realizing the importance of the issue.

Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar said, "We reported the matter to the Ministry of Water Resources three years ago. The issue was discussed at the district development coordination meeting.”

“I will again recommend to the ministry to take action so that other resources, including the shelter project in the area, are not further damaged,” he added.