Photo : TDM
Swarasati Mandal, a resident of Jhapa village at Padmapukur union of Satkhira’s Shyamnagar upazila, was seen busy repairing the embankment before onset of the monsoon.
Living on the bank of the wide Kholpetua river, 32-year-old Swarasati was seen spending time with her family members in earth filling to repair the embankment as a temporary measure.
When the water recedes during low tide, the male members of the family start extracting soil from the river banks. The women take the soil in baskets and carry it about 100 metres away to mend the embankment.
“Saline water enters our homes during medium or high tides, overflowing the embankment. Therefore, to avoid tidal surge, we try to prevent saline water by earth filling in the part of the embankment near our houses,” Swarasati told this correspondent.
“I faced Cyclone Aila in 2009. I experienced the ferocity of that cyclone. Many houses were inundated by saline water. Many people died and we took shelter at a place in the house of our chairman,” said 60-year-old Ranjit Mandal of Jhapa village.
“Before this there was a cyclone in 1988. Every time I have seen during these cyclones how saline water enters our houses breaking the embankment and washes away the houses. Our cattle are washed away in the strong current,” he further said.
Talking to The Daily Messenger on the construction and renovation of the embankment in the coastal area, Padmapukur union parishad Chairman Amjad Hossain said, “When an embankment is damaged, most of the time, it is repaired through voluntary service. The Water Development Board waits for the budget allocation from Dhaka. By the time they get allocation and work starts, it’s all over.”
Recalling the impact of Cyclone Aila, he said, "In 2009, the embankment was damaged at 18 places during Aila. It has been repaired in a scattered manner, but we are yet to see a fully renovated embankment. Back in the 1960s, there was a full-fledged embankment here.”
Expressing his disappointment over the embankment repairment programme of Water Development Board, Amjad Hossain said, "What more can I say about the allocation of the Water Development Board? They cannot do even of the 30% work. We worry a lot when natural calamities hit. The World Bank completed a survey. We want a full-fledged embankment.”
"We tried to draw the attention of the government in many ways, like forming human chains, sending resolutions. The MPs have assured that there was a discussion in the Parliament as well. State Minister for Water Resources, Minister for Food, and many high officials came. But I don't know why no full-fledged embankment has not been constructed here," he said.
Bangladesh Delta Plan-2100 Project Senior Water Resources Engineer Amirul Islam, specialist on sustainable embankment and integrated disaster management on the South-West coastal belt of Bangladesh, said the "Polder" concept is an artificial hydrological environment management from the Netherlands.
“Three processes are combined in polder construction. Firstly, construction of sustainable embankments to save the coast from floods. Secondly, construction of two-way control regulator in water management in the area, and thirdly, water control of the river-canal-reservoir within the polder area,” he said.
“In 2021, 139 polder programmes covered different areas from Satkhira to Teknaf. Now 147 polder programmes cover about 1.22 million hectares of coastal land. As of June 2022, 5,800 km of embankments have already developed.”
“However, it is impossible to develop all the embankments together. The polders are being constructed step by step as per priority,” Engineer Amirul said.
TDM/SD
