Residents of erosion-hit areas under Charghat and Bagha upazilas in Rajshahi formed a human chain on Saturday, demanding the construction of a permanent embankment along the Padma River to protect their homes and farmland from further devastation.
Several hundreds of them from five erosion-prone villages 鈥� Gopalpur, Rautha, Pirojpur, Sahapur under Charghat upazila, and Chak Rajapur and Atarpara under Bagha upazila, formed the human chain in front of Charghat upazila parishad to press home their demand.
Addressing the human chain, villagers said that the Padma continued to erode land in their areas and warned that without a permanent embankment, more homes and cropland would soon be lost.
Shahanaj Begum, a housewife from Pirojpur village, said that her house was hanging precariously on the riverbank. 鈥楢ny moment it might collapse into the river,鈥� she said.
Another resident, Parvina Khatun, who joined the protest with her child and elderly mother-in-law, said that the river was now right under their feet. 鈥榃e have nowhere left to move,鈥� she said.
Rajshahi district BNP convener and former upazila chairman Abu Sayed, who attended the human chain as chief guest, said that river erosion in Pirojpur, Gopalpur, and Sahapur areas had been continuing for years, destroying at least 500 houses and displacing hundreds of families.
He said that many of the displaced had been forced to settle in different parts of the country, unable to return to their ancestral homes.
鈥業f no steps are taken this time to build an embankment, the people will again take to the streets and paralyse the local Water Development Board office,鈥� he warned.
Among others, Charghat upazila BNP president Zakirul Islam, joint-general secretary Shahin Ali, district Jubo Dal joint-convener Sabbir Rahman, Charghat municipal BNP joint-secretary Abdus Salek Adil and organising secretary Mahbubur Rahman, upazila Chhatra Dal member secretary Shahinur Rahman, and local teacher Monirul Islam spoke at the human chain.
