The continued erosion due to unplanned dredging may cause serious flooding and massive landslides any time as the river embankment has been affected at several points.

The Surma embankment at Shingpur now faces damage caused by erosion, local people said.

Some influential people, allegedly backed by a section of ruling party men, have engaged these dredgers, they alleged.

This has caused a serious commotion among villagers, who held several protest rallies and urged the administration to stop the illegal dredging.

Several protest rallies were held in the villages in the last two weeks, but to no effect, they told this correspondent during a visit to the area on Thursday and the day before.

The dredging stops during demonstrations, but it resumes days later as the administration does not take any step, the villagers alleged.

Several hundred people from Jangail, Herakhola, Jugirgaon, Dhanpur, Govindapur, Hausha, Chandpur and Pashchim Ghopal attended a protest meeting held at Kandigaon village in the Sadar upazila on Thursday. A number of local political leaders and village elders addressed the rally.

They said at least eight villages in Kandigaon and Mogalgaon unions are facing erosion due to random extraction of sand from the riverbed. They alleged that some private dredging firms are making a brisk business of earth-filling work and selling soil and earth.

They threatened to go for tougher agitation if immediate steps are not taken to stop the illegal dredging.

Haji Abdul Jabbar of Jogirgaon village chaired the rally. Later, a memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet.

Such protest rallies were also held at Shingpur and Turukbhag villages on Wednesday, the local people said.

This correspondent saw three dredgers in operation in the Surma at Kholapur village.

At least 15 small dredgers owned by some private companies are in the illegal operation in the river in the two upazilas, villagers said .

They said the extracted soil and sand is deposited on the riverbank and then sold. At places, long pipes are used for earth-filling work.

They said the illegal work is going on for about a month now in the Surma in Golapganj upazila.

A number of elderly people at Shingpur and Mollagaon said severe erosion takes place in the area almost every year, and the indiscriminate dredging will create a havoc.

The Water Development (WDB) has to spend huge amounts of money almost every year to protect the embankment there.

Last year, floods left a trail of devastation in the area as the embankment was damaged, inundating villages in five unions. The villages were under water for several weeks. The Sylhet-Jokiganj road, which is just near the Surma embankment, was under water for days, snapping road links from the divisional headquarters to the five upazilas for weeks.

The unplanned extraction of sand or soil from the riverbed by using dredgers is adding to the trouble in the area this year, the victims alleged with great discontent.

On complaints from local people, Golapganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shahidul Islam visited the area and stopped the unauthorised dredging on June 25.

But on the next day, some people identifying themselves as ruling party men started it again. The matter was brought to the notice of local lawmaker Syed Mokbul Hossain, who assured the locals of taking steps to stop it. But it is continuing, they said.

When contacted, the Golapganj UNO said withdrawal of the dredgers from the area has been ordered.

People in nearby villages like Khalopar, Mollagaon, Majidpur and Nalua also apprehend a large scale erosion in their villages if this illegal dredging is not stopped immediately.

A high official of WDB told this correspondent that the dredging is illegal but the 'riverline' is not under their control. It is the jurisdiction of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), he said.

The official admitted that such dredging would cause serious erosion and even landslide along the riverbanks.

There is no office of BIWTA in Sylhet.