Local people fear that students of two schools at Godagari in Rajshahi may face accidents any time as their playground has turned into a pond 10–12 feet deep because of soil extraction.
Teachers and locals said that soil was extracted from the playground of Char Ashariadah Kanapara Government Primary School and Kanapara High School about three weeks ago under the supervision of the local union council chair and upazila nirbahi officer.
The extracted soil was dumped into a nearby canal, they said.
Due to continuous rain after the extraction, water filled the pit and had now become hazardous pond beside one of the buildings of the school, they said.
They feared that students of the schools might face accidents at any time, and there might be structural damage due to the soil extraction.
‘No one told us why 10–12-foot-deep pit was dug so suddenly. Children could drown any time. It is extremely dangerous to dig such a hole beside the schools,’ said local resident Angur Hossain.
Char Ashariadah union Juba Dal member secretary Md Shamim said that two children had already slipped into the pit but were rescued by the locals.
‘If this continues, a fatal accident is only a matter of time. The school buildings are also at risk,’ he said.
Kanapara Government Primary School head teacher Aftab Uddin said that he had objected to the soil extraction.
‘I told the UNO that it would be better if they collected soil from elsewhere. But he replied that the pit would be filled up later,’ he said.
Kanapara High School head teacher Azgar Ali said that he had requested that soil be taken from another location, but the union council chairman ignored his plea.
‘At first, I thought the hole would be shallow. Later, I saw that it was very deep, and now my institution is clearly at risk,’ he said.
Char Ashariadah union council chair Ashraful Islam Bhola said that they had plans to build a children’s park on the school’s land.
‘Due to floods, we could not find soil elsewhere, so we prepared the ground with soil from the school field. Teachers and others had been consulted. We are committed to finishing the work,’ he claimed.
Godagari UNO Faisal Ahmed said that they were making a mini-children’s park in front of the school.
‘Because of the rain, work has been delayed. So some soil was used to set up equipment temporarily. The chairman seems to have dug too deep, and we have asked him to take corrective measures,’ he said.
He claimed that they had begun to fill up the hole with sand.
