Kaium Ahmed Jewel, Patuakhali :
A number of trunks of dead trees have surfaced in a portion of Kukata sea beach, causing disturbance to free movement of visitors in the popular tourist spot.
Especially tourists gathering in the west side of Kuakara Zero Point to enjoy the sunset scene find it difficult to move amid huge trunks spreading in the area.
“During the rainy season mighty tidal surges from the Bay removed surface layer of the beach. With the recession of water afterwards, thousands of trunk of dead trees appeared in the kilometres-long sea from Shutki Palli (dried fish village) to Khajura reserve forest area.” said Ansar Mia, a resident of Khajura village.
“A section of local people often dg the beach area to get longs for using as firewood. And so, the surface layers get loosened and the earth and sand removed easily by the tidal surges,” he added.
“I along with my friends came here to visit the beach but we couldn’t move freely due to huge trunks. Some of my friends got little injuries while walking in the area at night,” said Arnob, a student of Dhaka University.
Tiham Noor, Anima Islam and Jyoti-all tourists from Dhaka, also told of similar problems.
Local fisherman Sujon Talukder said earlier they anchored their boats in the area but now they are facing problems due to appearance of huge trunks.
“Once there was a reserve forest but natural disasters like super cyclones SIDR and AYLA and frequent tidal surges caused massive destruction of the trees there. Later trunks of the trees surfaced as the upper layer of the earth was removed by tidal surges,” said Polash Chakrabarty, beat officer of the Forest Department.
Authority should take step to clean the beach on an urgent basis considering the interest of tourists, said Md. Motaleb Sharif, secretary of Kuakata Hotel Motel Owners Association.
“In order to save Kuakara beach from erosion, we sent a Tk 55 crore Draft Project Proposal to the higher authorities six months ago but it is yet to be approved,” said Md. Abul Khayer, Executive Engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board, Kalapar Circle Office.
As per the DPP, a five kilometre flood control embankment would be constructed with CC blocks to protect the scenic beach and different establishment there, he said.
