River erosion in bordering areas continues, as embankment protection work by the Water Development Board has remained suspended for the past few years in the face of resistance from the Indian Border Security Forces.(The New Age BD )

Sources in the board said they had to suspend the construction of revetment on riverbanks at 14 points in Chapainawabganj, Comilla, Sylhet, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Satkhira and Khagrachari because of protest from the BSF.

The government undertook a Tk 130-crore project in 1999 to protect riverbanks from erosion at 26 points. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2007.

However, the officials concerned said it would be impossible to meet the deadline as the development work had to be suspended indefinitely after the BSF had protested against construction at several points.

Erosion by the Mohananda in Chapainawabganj, the Karatoa in Panchagarh, the Atrai in Dinajpur, the Nagar and the Kulik in Thakurgaon, and the Feni in Khagrachari, among others, cannot be prevented without revetment, a source in the board said.

Erosion by these rivers continue round the year but takes a dangerous turn in monsoon, affecting the lives and livelihood of people, he said.

A decision was made during a meeting between former water resources minister of India Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and the water resources minister, Hafiz Uddin, that they would jointly visit the vulnerable sites along the bordering rivers. It is yet to be followed up.

Tauhidul Anwar Khan, a member of the Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission, told New Age on Thursday that the objection of the BSF over the revetment work had remained an outstanding issue for long.

At the previous meeting of the commission, Bangladesh and India agreed on a joint visit to the disputed areas, he said. ‘However, the visit did not take place because of unwillingness on the part of India.’

The Indian water resources secretary sent a letter in April, saying they would be able to visit the areas in May, Tauhidul Anwar said. ‘In response, we have asked them to finalise a date in the first week of June.’

A recent visit of Poladanga of Bholahat in Chapainawabganj, organised by the Water Reporters Forum, Bangladesh and the water resources ministry, revealed that about 2,000 metres of revetment work of the board at Gilabari and Bholahat remained suspended.

The superintendent engineer of the Rajshahi circle of the board, Md Abdul Mannan, said protection work over along 2,000 metres of the riverbank at Gilabari and Bholahat was needed immediately but they had been able to complete only 150 metres.

The rest of the work has remained suspended for the past one year, he added.

The Bholahat police station and upazila health complex, and the border outpost at Gilabari will be washed away if the protection work is not resumed immediately, he warned.

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