Water Development Board (WDB) officials here said they earlier notified the traders not to cut the dam and ply trucks on it. They also requested police to take action against the violators.

But police are yet to take any action. Rather, they blame a section of WDB officials for allegedly cooperating with the sand traders.

This correspondent during a visit on Tuesday saw the dam cut at Kajla, Talaimari, Borokuthi, Eidgah, Shreerampur and Haripur points and streams of trucks carrying sand from the riverbed.

At Shreerampur, trucks were seen plying over the 'dam mattress', a strategic portion of the dam.

WDB Executive Engineer Saidul Islam told this correspondent that three organisations applied in January for collecting sand from the riverbed. But Desh Nirmata Enterprise, one of the three, did not wait for approval. They cut the dam a day after they had applied.

On February 22, WDB filed a case against Desh Nirmata Enterprise and sought police action to stop plying of trucks on the dam. But no action followed.

Similarly, Khondokar Constr-uctions and Nazma Enterprise also applied to WDB but did not wait for approval. They cut the dam at Eidgah and Pathanpara points for collecting sand.

WDB Superintendent Engineer Jasim Uddin said the dam has been damaged at several points following indiscriminate plying of trucks. He said WDB did not approve any application for sand-lilting.

There may be breaches in the dam in the coming rainy season if those are not repaired.

He said WDB does not have adequate manpower to check dam- cutting. "We requested police and they did nothing".

When contacted, Rajpara thana OC Faizur Rahman said police can not check dam-cutting as influential people are involved in it.

The dam was repaired in 1999-01 financial year at a cost of Tk 60 crore to protect Rajshahi town from erosion by the Padma after it was damaged during 1998 floods.

WDB spends huge amounts of money every year to repaid the dam.