One-third of embankments damaged in season’s second floods: Ministry

One-third of the embankments built by the Water Development Board have been damaged during the second spell of floods this year.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 August 2017, 01:15 PM
Updated : 17 August 2017, 02:12 PM

The state of embankments from across the country, whose combined length stood at 1,900 kilometres, was revealed by the Ministry of Water Resources on Thursday.

The ministry provided the data during a meeting of the parliamentary committee during a discussion on the ongoing floods.

The committee asked the ministry to study the state of embankments after the recession of floodwaters, and to list the dams that have permanent structures on them.

The findings must be provided in a report during its next meeting, the committee said.

So far over three million people have faced damage in 22 flood-stricken districts during the second flooding of the season starting July, according to the Department of Disaster Management.    

In April, swathes of farmland were destroyed in early flooding when embankments failed to protect wetlands in six districts of Sylhet.

The parliamentary committee questioned the dam restoration process in coastal areas. The work is usually finished before November, but so far there has been no noticeable progress, it said. 

“Risky dams used to be checked before November. We even used rollers to fortify them so that floodwaters can’t enter. But I did not see this work taking place this year,” said committee chief Ramesh Chandra Sen, a former water resources minister.

The committee recommended the drafting of a guideline for dredging to maintain natural river flow.