Merurchar union of Bakshiganj upazila in Jamalpur, an ancient settlement linked to the memory of Khairun Sundari, is now losing several villages — Bhati Kalkihara, Uttar Kalkihara, Baghadoba and Lutfarganj among them — to severe erosion by the Brahmaputra river. One after another, roads, bridges and culverts, homes, educational institutions, mosques and madrasas, and hundreds of acres of farmland are disappearing into the river.
On Tuesday (30 June) afternoon, residents held separate human-chain programmes in the villages of Bhati Kalkihara and Uttar Kalkihara in Merurchar union to seek protection from the erosion.
The human chains, chaired by noted social worker Md Rakibur Rahman Lipu, were addressed by local residents including Abdul Khalek, imam and khatib Arman Hossain, Abdul Haque Master, Alamgir Hossain and Delwar Hossain Master, as well as Minara Begum Mina, president of the Merurchar union women’s wing, among other notable figures.
The speakers demanded that the necessary steps be taken quickly to protect Bhati and Uttar Kalkihara villages of Merurchar union from Brahmaputra erosion.
They sought to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to the issue through M Rashiduzzaman Millat, the member of parliament for Jamalpur-1 and state minister for civil aviation and tourism.
Social worker Rakibur Rahman Lipu and Minara Begum Mina told journalists that erosion had continued here for the past three decades, with villages, settlements, educational institutions and roads being lost one after another to the river.
Hundreds of families had lost their homesteads and land and been left destitute, they said, and many had become landless and taken shelter in various parts of the country, living in dire conditions. Despite repeated promises by the members of parliament and ministers of the past, ousted Awami League government, they said, the fortunes of people in the area had not changed.
Besides Kalkihara, the speakers said, more than 10 villages — including Rasulpur, Fakirpara, Bhitakandi, Baghadoba, Kauniarchar and Nayabari — were facing erosion, and more than 200 families had already been left homeless.
The speakers made an earnest appeal for erosion to be prevented urgently to save Merurchar union.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report