The Padma River washed away at least a two-story mosque, five houses and two business establishments at Alam Khar Kandir village at Jajira upazila in Shariatpur on Tuesday morning.
The incident happened in Zero Point area of Naodoba union.
Eyewitnesses said that cracks appeared in the two-story mosque in the morning shortly after which it collapsed into the river with a fierce thud.
According to Shariatpur Water Development Board officials, the first erosion started in the Zero Point area near a Padma Bridge project site in Jajira in November last year.
This caused a 100-metre section of a dam constructed there to disappear into the river.
This year at least 850 metres of the dam disappeared into the river, they added.
At least 30 businesses and 100 homes in the area have been lost to the river so far.
Meanwhile, at least 600 families in the area and more than 200 businesses in Majhirghat Bazar are at risk due to the increasing erosion.
The Water Development Board has continued to dump geo bags and geo tubes to prevent erosion, which, however, appears to bring little impact.
Mohammad Tarek Hasan, executive engineer of Shariatpur Water Development Board, said, 鈥榃e are constantly doing emergency work to prevent river erosion. But it is not possible to completely stop the current and erosion in the Padma.鈥�
He said that the only way to prevent erosion was to have a permanent protective measure, a proposal for which they had already sent to the higher authorities.
