Nearly 50,000 farming families have been affected and have become waterlogged by the collapse of more than two kilometers of embankment at separate places in Motirhat and Sadar Burirghat areas of Lakshmipur’s Kamalnagar.
Thousands of acres of Urti Aush paddy, Aman seedbed, Ropa and Bona Aman paddy as well as other vegetables have been submerged. About 20,000 more families have been affected, according to concerned department.
The worst affected area is the large Charmanimohan union in Sadar upazila. In the high tide, the embankment from Burirghat in the said union to Motirhat in Kamalnagar was broken and was completely submerged in Meghna River. Thousands of crores of wealth of the villages in three upazilas are under threat of being washed away in Meghna due to the breach of embankment.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Meghna coming down from the upper reaches and continued rain increases the threat. According to the concerned department, water of 54 rivers across the country is falling into the Bay of Bengal through the Meghna Basin estuary.
At present, the entire Charmanimohan and almost all the roads in the 6 wards of the area have been destroyed due to the continuous tide, said the respective UP chairman Abu Mohammad Yusuf Chayal. The affected areas include Motirhat Bazar, Motirhat High School, Matabbarhat, Nabiganj, Bolirpul, Haji Market, Mia Market and shops in Motirhat Bazar.
Thousands of people on the banks of the Meghna are spending sleepless nights in fear of collapse while many more are spending their days under the open sky. The dam at Motirhat Bazar in Kamalnagar is currently under threat.
According to the District Agriculture Department’s preliminary estimates, 25,975 hectares of crops have been damaged so far and more than 50,000 farming families have been affected. Besides, District Fisheries Officer Billal Hossain said fish farmers in Ramgati, Kamalnagar, Sadar and Raipur upazilas have lost fish worth about Tk 20 crore due to continuous tide.
According to the District Relief and Rehabilitation Office, about 18,000 families have been affected in 18 unions of five upazilas in the district. The government has so far provided Tk 4 lakh 70 thousand in cash, 1,450 packets of dry food including 10 kg of rice, oil, salt, noodles and 67 MT rice. Farooq Ahmed, Executive Engineer of the Water Development Board, said the damaged embankment would be repaired after the rains left.
However, at the moment, in some urgent places, geo-bags will be dropped to temporarily save the embankment.