UNB, Brahmanbaria :
Extraction of sand from the Titas river in Sadar upazila goes on unabated intensifying threat of erosion in the nearby villages.
People of the villages are now passing their days amid fear that their homesteads might go into the river due to sand extraction.
Besides, due to the callous act, Akhaura Railway Station and the under-construction second bridge over the Teesta river are likely to be affected.
Sources concerned said work is going on to build the Second Titas Bridge in Brahmanbaria on the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet rail routes.
Though the construction firm concerned is supposed to purchase sand for the purpose of the bridge construction, sand is now being lifted from the river illegally without taking permission from the authorities concerned.
An influential quarter is involved with the illegal sand lifting which is being done in the name of river dredging.
Locals said while dredging work is done in the river, earth or sand is extracted from a large portion of the river and added that extracted sand or earth are kept on the riverbank.
But, sand is now being lifted from one point of the river day after day using high-powered dredger, they said, adding that a huge amount of sand is extracted at night.
During a visit, the UNB correspondent found a dredger in Akhaura part of the river near Syamnagar village of Sadar upazila.
With the dredger, sand is being lifted and dumped beside Titas Railway Bridge, the site selected for the Second Titas Bridge.
Locals said though people concerned are requested not to lift sand, they are paying no heed to that.
