¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

Sufferings of flood-hit people deepened as water remained stagnant in many remote parts of Sylhet, although the overall flood situation continued improving in the north-eastern district on Friday with the water level further dropping in the major rivers. 

Local leaders put down the water stagnation mainly to the construction of unplanned roads and other infrastructure, grabbing of canals and riverbed siltation.

According to the Water Development Board Sylhet office, Kushiyara River was flowing 51 centimetres above the danger mark on Friday 3:00pm only at the gauging point at Fenchuganj upazila in the district.

At other points, both Surma and Kushiyara rivers, however, were flowing below the danger marks on the day, the WDB said.

The recent flash flood that hit the Sylhet region on May 30 as a result of heavy rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream region of India marooned around 10,00,000 people in 842 villages under 93 unions at 10 upazilas out of 13 in the district, and also the Sylhet city.

‘Eighty families are still staying at the flood shelters at Jakiganj upazila. The rest returned to their homes after the floodwater moved away from their homesteads,’ said Sylhet relief and rehabilitation officer Abdul Quddus Bulbul on Friday.

Talking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·, Jakiganj upazila chairman Lokman Uddin Chowdhury, however,  said that around 1,00,000 people still remained marooned in the upazila as of Friday afternoon.

‘Public sufferings are mounting as the water in the low-lying and remote areas across the upazila is stubbornly staying though water levels in the major rivers at most of the points have gone down,’ he said.

Lokman Chowdhury told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the water stagnation was caused by construction of badly planned infrastructure, including rural roads, grabbing of canals that were used as crucial channels to drain out floodwater from the haor areas and riverbed siltation. 

At Fenchuganj upazila, Uttar Kushiyara union chairman Ahmed Jilu told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Friday that at least 30,000 people were still trapped in floodwater in his union.

More than 10,000 people were the worst affected and the homesteads of around 150 families of Kaligaon village were entirely submerged by the floodwater, said the union chairman.

‘We received only two tonnes of rice which was too scanty for so many suffering people,’ he added.

At Companiganj upazila, Isakalas union chairman Sajjadur Rahman Saju told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Friday afternoon that the floodwater receded from the homesteads of the affected villages in the union.

‘But, the roads and alleys in the villages are yet to surface,’ he said.

Saju said that both people and cattle were increasingly infected with waterborne diseases amid a crisis of pure drinking water.

The upazila health and livestock officers assured them of addressing the issues, the union chairman said.

‘The upazila nirbahi officer allotted some paltry 8,000 water purifying tablets for our union, almost 90 per cent areas of which were inundated in the flash flood,’ Saju added.