Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) claimed that it issued early warnings on Padma’s erosion to avert loss of livelihoods in Shariatpur district.
The early warning was calculated after analysing a time-series of dry season satellite images and erosion pattern of the Padma River.
But the authorities did not disseminate the warning to local communities and not even took erosion preparedness programme inviting disastrous impact on properties and lives of thousands of people in the district.
Erosion by the river Padma has recently taken on a disastrous form devouring several thousand acres of land, houses, government roads and educational institutions in Naria and Zanjira upazilas of Shariatpur district.
A government hospital on Saturday went into the Padma as the extreme erosion continued progressing leaving thousands of families displaced from their ancestral lands.
“The organization (CEGIS) has predicted that the fuming Padma would be in a rage this year and it almost turned accurate. The forecast has been made at its Annual Report -2017. The organization used to make prediction over river erosion every biannual,” Dr Maminul Haque Sarker, Deputy Executive Director of the CEGIS, told an international news agency on Friday.
He said the planning for proper rehabilitation of the victims would be easier if the disaster warning was disseminated early,” said the director, adding, “It is rainy season and now we have nothing to do in this regard.”
He also said that the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) often arranges sand bags to prevent riverbank erosion, but it does not work always. The government should take comprehensive initiative during the dry season to mitigate the risk of erosion.
CEGIS, a government research center established on 16 May 2002 following flooding in 1987 and 1988, had developed sophisticated tools and precise techniques for predicting and monitoring bank erosion and morphological changes of the major rivers.
“To the best of my knowledge, we did not receive any information about early warning from any organization on Padma’s erosion,” BWDB Director General Engr Md. Mahfujur Rahman told The New Nation.
He said BWDB has already taken emergency measures to check river erosion in Shariatpur district. We’re now releasing Geo-bags on riverbanks so that erosion risk can be mitigated.
When asked, Mahfujur Rahman said that his organization has under taken Tk 1,097 crore project to protect Shariatpur district from Padma’s erosion. They project is expected to begin in October this year.
More than 1,20,000 people are displaced by river erosion every year in Bangladesh, according to a study.
