Brahmaputra erosion swallows 17 homesteads in a week in Rowmari, farmers harvest unripe paddy in panic

Erosion by the Brahmaputra river has taken a frightening turn in Char Shaulmari union of Rowmari upazila in Kurigram. In the past week, the homesteads of at least 17 families in Sukherbati and Khedaimari villages have disappeared into the river, and along with the houses, acres of cropland have also been lost.

The erosion has become so intense that farmers are desperately trying to save whatever paddy they can, ripe or unripe. Pictures and videos of them cutting paddy at risk have spread on social media, drawing concern well beyond the area.

According to local people, around 550 families in this area alone have been made homeless by river erosion in just the past year. In other words, this is no isolated incident; the same suffering keeps returning to the lives of the char dwellers.

Locals allege that although the Water Development Board dumped geo-bags six or seven months ago to stop the erosion, a lack of proper supervision and permanent measures means those bags too have now been washed into the river. As a result, the bank is collapsing rapidly with nothing to hold it back.

Ansar Ali Tuhin, the UP member for Ward 7 of Char Shaulmari union, said seven houses in his ward and ten houses in Khedaimari village of the neighbouring Ward 8 were lost to the river in the past week.

Those who lost their homes in Sukherbati include Delwar, Nazrul Islam, Rupchan, Ayesha Khatun, Sobhan and Lalu Sheikh; in Khedaimari, Kapil Uddin, Afsar Ali, Fatem, Kadam Ali, Abdul Khaleq, Mahar Uddin, Sirajul, Jamser Ali and Akkas Ali are among those affected. The homesteads of two more people who had built new houses on the char have also gone into the river, and their identities could not be confirmed immediately.

Alongside their homes, farmers are being reduced to destitution as they lose cropland. On Monday, pictures of farmers cutting unripe paddy in the face of the erosion at Sukherbati char went viral on social media.

UP member Tuhin said the entire one and a half bighas of Aman paddy land belonging to Yunus Molla on the riverbank has been lost; one bigha of Aman field out of Sabur Pramanik's four bighas has gone into the river; and Jamser Ali's house along with three bighas of paddy land has also disappeared.

Affected resident Jamser Ali complained that his homestead, together with three bighas of land, went into the river before his eyes, yet the Water Development Board took no action. Families who have lost everything are now sheltering under the open sky and on other people's land.

Char Shaulmari union chairman A K H M Saidur Rahman said erosion has taken a severe form in three wards — Sukherbati, Khedaimari and Sonapur. Without block work, geo-bags cannot hold back the erosion; the bags that were dumped have been swept into the river and the bank now stands exposed. He added that government financial assistance for erosion victims, once provided, has now stopped, making it hard for poor people to rebuild a shelter.

Kurigram Water Development Board executive engineer Rakibul Hasan, for his part, said there is currently no allocation for emergency work; the matter has been reported to the higher authorities and a project proposal for permanently stopping the erosion has been sent, which the authorities are considering.

The sudden intensification of erosion has spread extreme fear and anxiety across the char area. Affected families and local residents have demanded quick and permanently effective steps from the Water Development Board. How soon the project proposal is implemented will decide how many more families lose their homesteads.