Several hundred residents of Kasba Ghoshpara area in Jashore Sadar upazila have been passing their days in utter despair since the beginning of September when a number of houses started collapsing into the Bhairab river due illegal and unplanned sand lifting.

Indiscriminate lifting of sand from the Bhairab river, over the last few years, has caused the collapse of about 15 to 20 houses at Ghoshpara village during incessant rain last month, alleged villagers.

Moreover, over a hundred houses and other structures at the village are also on the verge of collapsing into the river due to impact of illegal and unplanned sand lifting, they added.

The banks of the Bhairab river first started developing cracks at different spots after a local influential syndicate, led by some Awami League men, began lifting sand from the river illegally in January 2023, locals said. 

But due to incessant rainfall through out last month the banks on either side of the Bhairab river started getting damaged and at one point the river devoured at least 15 homesteads within a few weeks, they said.

The erosion-hit families, however, blamed negligence of the Water Development Board (WDB) for not taking immediate steps to prevent the erosion after repeated appeals and putting lives and properties of hundreds of residents of the village in danger.

One of the local residents Shawkat Ali said they have urged the WDB authorities on several occasions to prevent the erosion and protect their homes from eroding, but nothing has been done so far.

Another resident Rafia Akhter said about 20 homesteads including the houses of Anwar Hossain, Barik Ali, Sajib Islam, Shafiqul Islam, Amena Begum, Golam Mostafa, Siddique Hossain, Kohinoor Begum, Mohammad Shahin and Alamgir Hossain have already gone into the river womb in the last couple of days.

She also urged the WDB authorities to construct a permanent embankment along the river as early as possible and protect their homestead, arable land and other establishments.

Jashore WDB Executive Engineer Palash Kumar Banerjee said they were taking preparation to dump sand-fill geo-bags to protect the erosion temporarily.

A huge vacuum has been created underneath the banks of the Bhairab river due to illegal sand lifting since 2020, the engineer said, adding that the recent rain has intensified the erosion.