UNB, Goalundo :
In just two hours choppy Padma River devoured Daulatdia ferry terminal number four, a mosque, land and houses on Monday as severe erosion played havoc in Mondayat Siddique Kazipara area in Goalundo upazila.
About 20 more families evacuated their houses as relentless river erosion devastated the area.
Local villagers scurried to save their belongings as the structures and the land disappeared into the river before being washed away by the tide between 8 am and 10 am.
Imam of the Siddique Kazipara Jame Mosque, Hafez Jobayer Hossain said a portion of the residential slipped into water first and then tube well, houses, his own home and half of the concrete building was gulped by the river.
Siddique Kazi, after whose ancestors the area was named, said for last few days whirlpools and strong currents started scrapping away lands but it intensified most today.
“Giobags were not dumped in places where it should been even after our request,” he said.
Upazila Parishad member Ashraful Islam said in ward-2 area from Daulatdia launch terminal to ferry terminal-5 around 200 families and in Mashjidsheikh Para area from launch terminal to ferry terminal-1 some 600 to 800 families are threatened by rapid erosion.
Deputy assistant engineer of Bangladesh inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Aricha office Makbul Hossain said regular work to prevent erosion was going on at the launch terminal area but no work was done at terminal four as it was not affected by erosion.
Immediately after being informed of the erosion direction was given to dump giobags to prevent the erosion, he said.
Assistant director general (marine) of BIWTC Aricha office, Abdus Sattar said, due to erosion and strong current no ferries could anchor at terminal-4 for last two weeks and terminal-3 is also at risk.
Currently terminal 5,6 and 7 is being used, said the official.
Locals said, on August 11 and 12 around 100 meter of the launch terminal went into the river due to erosion.
From July 13 to August 9 at least three times the locals faced erosion and many families had to evacuate from their house, they said.
UP chairman, Abdur Rahman demanded of the government steps to prevent the erosion as every year 200 families on an average lose their land to river erosion within this 8km area.
