Relief returns to Dumuria shelter project after river excavation soil removal

District Representative, Khulna

The suffering caused by unplanned dumping of river excavation soil in several shelter projects in Dumuria, Khulna has started to subside. This has brought relief to the residents of the projects.

On Thursday (June 18), a tour of several shelter projects in Dumuria showed that piles of soil around the houses of the shelter projects have been removed under the initiative of the project director and the local administration for three consecutive days. The project authorities concerned started the work of soil removal from last Sunday (June 14).

During the re-excavation of the Bhadra River, which flows alongside the government shelter project in the Chuknagar, Kanthaltala and Khornia areas of the upazila, river soil was dumped in the area adjacent to the project. This created a huge pile of soil that rolled down in the rain water and landed on the houses of the shelter project. Many residents complained of cracks appearing in their houses, blocked roads and even damaged tubewells and toilets.

After the news was published, the authorities concerned were shaken. The project director and the local administration started the work of removing soil quickly using heavy machinery. After three days of continuous efforts, the soil around the houses of the shelter project was removed and the road was also made operational.

Local residents said that they had been living in fear of their houses collapsing for the past few days. Currently, the situation has improved after the soil around the houses was removed. However, they demanded that the houses where cracks appeared be repaired.

In this regard, Jessore Water Development Board Executive Engineer Palash Kumar Banerjee said that after the issue of river excavation soil accumulating in the area adjacent to the shelter project came to our attention, it was removed in coordination with the project authorities, the army and the local administration. In the last three days of efforts, all the soil around the houses has been removed and the normal movement environment of the residents has been restored. He said that more precautions will be taken to ensure that there is no public suffering in the future in the conservation and removal of river excavation soil.

Project Director Lieutenant Colonel Mamun Ur Rashid said, "The situation was created due to the contractor's mistake. Immediately after learning about the matter, we started working to control the situation, after removing the soil for three days, now everything is normal. This re-excavation activity is very important to resolve the waterlogging in the Bhabadah region. Therefore, along with the implementation of the project, the interests and safety of the local people are also being given utmost importance," he said.