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POST TIME: 15 November, 2015 00:00 00 AM / LAST MODIFIED: 14 November, 2015 11:33:36 PM
EROSION BY PADMA, ARIAL KHAN
Immediate steps demanded
�Over one lakh people in 45 villages have lost their homesteads and properties due to erosion during the last 10 years�
Our Correspondent

Immediate steps demanded

Erosion-hit people form a human chain on the bank of the Padma River demanding construction of embankment protection dam at Char Bhadrasan in Faridpur recently. INDEPENDENT PHOTO

Thousands of people in Sadarpur and Charvadrasan upazilas of the district have been rendered homeless due to erosion by the Padma and Arial khan rivers over the past 10 years.
 But no effective step has yet been taken by the authorities concerned to check erosion, victims alleged.
Sources at the Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) in Faridpur said the higher authorities are yet to approve any fund for protection of river bank from erosion.
The erosion victims are often forming human chains demanding construction of protection dam on the river bank of Padma in Char Bhadrasan area.  
AGM Badal Amin, chairman of Charbhadrasan upazilla parishad, said if the embankment is not built soon then Charvadrasan upazila headquarters with upazila parishad, health complex and other government and non government establishments might face erosion during the coming rainy season.
Kazi Shafiqur Rahman, chairman of Sadarpur upazila parishad, said the erosion affected people are passing their days in hardship losing their homestead and immoveable properties. Abdur Razzak, chairman of Charbhadrasan union, said over one lakh people in 45 villages have lost their homesteads and properties due to erosion during the last 10 years. Most of them have moved to different places, especially Dhaka, where they earn their livelihood by pulling rickshaws and doing jobs of day  labourers.
A K M Jahirul Islam, sub-assistant engineer of WDB in Faridpur, said proposals on three projects to check erosion in two upazilas -- Charbhadrasan and Sadarpur – have been sent to the higher authorities. The work on the projects will begin after approval.