Kamalnagar (Laxmipur) Correspondent: There has been a breach in the dam protecting the banks of the Meghna river at Kamalnagar in Laxmipur. The southern part of the dam is broken. The entire dam is under threat. Almost lakhs of people have panicked due to the collapse of the dam at the beginning of monsoon. If adequate dams are not constructed to prevent rapid renovation and erosion, there is a danger that vast areas including under-construction dams will be submerged in the river bed.
On Sunday (July 15) in the early hours of the morning, a 1km under-construction Meghna river embankment collapsed in the Matabbar Hat area of the upazila. About two hundred meters of the block dam collapsed in the river.
As the second phase of work has not started, the area on both sides of the dam is continuously breaking. The dam has collapsed due to erosion in the surrounding area. The dam collapsed five times in the last monsoon season as well. Locals also complain that the dam is collapsing again and again due to low-quality work through irregularities.
On Sunday afternoon, the arrow was seen in the Raksha Dam area. The Meghna continues to breach on either side of the one kilometer under-construction dam. Erosion has pushed back the boundary of the dam and penetrated inside. This has weakened the dam. That is why the dam is called collapse. The contractor was seen dumping some geo bags filled with sand to prevent the collapse.
At the beginning of the monsoon, there was a panic among the locals due to the collapse of the embankment protecting the river bank. Terrified residents said that only one kilometer dam has been constructed to prevent river erosion in Kamalnagar. It is not enough to protect this upazila. About 8 km more embankment. There have been many irregularities in the dam that has been built.
The contractor constructs the embankment without proper dumping of 45m geo bags (special bags filled with sand) and blocks inside the embankment (in the river). Low quality sand and geo bags have been used in this. Due to these reasons, the dam collapsed 5 times last year. Also, the dam is supposed to be built by collecting soil from other places, but the dam is collapsing again and again due to the construction of the dam by excavating the soil from the river bank. This time, at the beginning of the rainy season, the collapse occurred again.
Standing at the scene, the local people lamented and said that a three and a half kilometer dam has been successfully constructed in Sadar Alexander, Ramgati Upazila, through the army. The vast town including the upazila headquarters was saved. But Kamalnagar has been allotted only one kilometer. Instead of giving it to the army, it gave it to the contractor. That is why the dam is collapsing again and again.
Masood Rana, AGM of Western Engineering, a contracting company, said that a dam of just one kilometer is not enough to prevent the erosion of the Meghna in Kamalnagar. Erosion continues on both sides of the Tirraksha Dam. This has affected the dam under construction. Also the tide and water level in the river has increased. Some parts of the dam have been damaged due to these conditions. I started immediate renovations.
Mohammad Musa, Executive Engineer of Laxmipur Water Development Board said, I am going to the spot after receiving the news of the dam collapse. Necessary action will be taken by contacting the higher authorities in this regard. A Development Project Proposal (DPP) has been sent to the ministry for construction of the second phase dam. But it is not working because it is not approved.
Incidentally, in 2014, the government allocated Tk 198 crore for the Meghna river bank protection dam. One kilometer in Kamalnagar, three and a half kilometers in Alexander in Ramgatti and one kilometer in Ramgatirhat Machghat area should be constructed with the allocated money. On February 1, 2015, under the supervision of the army, the 19 Engineer Construction Battalion started construction of a dam to prevent erosion in the Alexander area and successfully implemented three and a half kilometers. Meanwhile, Narayanganj Dockyard Engineering Ltd. got one kilometer work in Kamalnagar with Tk 48 crore of that allocation. In early 2016, two years after the allocation of funds, the company started working with Western Engineering. That year, the work was stopped due to pressure from the locals as the work was started with low quality sand and geo bags. At that time, the local residents made a human chain to protest against the irregularities and to work properly. Later, on November 23 of the same year, the dam construction work was officially inaugurated.
