Padma erosion in Manikganj Chars: ‘We are losing everything’

“We don't even have the money to build a new house. It is all over for us,” a despondent resident says

Hundreds of families have lost their homes and farmland due to the severe erosion of the Padma River in Manikganj’s Harirampur Upazila, leaving them destitute.

Since June this year, in addition to scores of acres of cropland, more than 300 homes in the Harihardia, Gangadhardi, Selimpur, Joypur and Patgram villages in the Upazila's Lacharagonj Union have been taken by the river, according to local union council Chairman Moazzem Hossain.

Arzina Begum, a housewife from Patgram, said: "After many hardships, I built a house of brick. This too could be taken by the Padma at any time."

"We are losing everything, and no one is even looking."

Belayet Ali, an 85-year-old from the same area, said: "We had 20 bighas (6.67 acres) of land. All of it has been lost. There’s nothing left."

Josna Begum, a housewife from the Joypur area, said: "We built a brick house at a cost of Tk 1.4 million. We took it apart and carried all we could salvage to the other bank of the river. But now, we don't even have the money to rebuild a new house. It is all over for us."

Locals say, over the last three years, the houses of more than 800 families in Harirampur’s Lacharagonj, Azimnagar and Sutalorie unions have been lost to the Padma.

Last year, the Natakhola Government Primary School in Lacharagonj’s Harihardia Union and the Pathankandi Government Primary School in Gangadhardi were lost to the river as well.

The Natakhola Police Investigation Centre, Natakhola Afroza High School and the Lacharagonj Union council building are all currently at risk from river erosion.

In the last three years, the four-story Azimnagar Union High School, the only MPO-listed building in the Char region, the union council building, the Hatighata and Swakhara Shelter Projects and the Ramchandrapur Government Primary School building in Sutalorie Union have also been taken by the Padma, according to locals.

Lacharagonj union council Chairman Moazzem said, “This year, seven mosques in the union; the Selimpur, Harihardia and Gangadhardi markets, and more than three hundred houses have collapsed and been swept away by the river.”

Harirampur Upazila Agriculture Officer Touhiduzzaman Khan said that 200 hectares of cropland in the Selimpur, Harihardia and Harinaghat areas have lost to the Padma as well.

After inspecting the erosion in the Char area, Manikganj Water Development Board Executive Engineer Md Akhtaruzzaman said: “Measures will be taken very soon to prevent erosion.”