Rising Padma at Bagha leaves char-dwellers at risk

BAGHA, RAJSHAHI, Aug 31: Residents of several chars in the Padma River in Bagha Upazila are risking their lives by wading through waist-deep water to return home after finishing work in Bagha Sadar.

Residents of Palashifatepur, Dadpur and Chak Rajapur chars went to Bagha Sadar by boat on Sunday morning. After completing their work, they crossed the main channel of the Padma by boat. But they had no transport to reach their homes from the riverbank.

With no alternative, many were seen wading through the rising river water to get home.

There are 15 chars in the Padma River in Bagha. Most residents are landless, impoverished working people who have been living there while constantly battling the vagaries of nature.

Most of them depend on farming during the dry season and fishing during the monsoon to make a living.

Infrastructure development in the chars has been much slower than in other areas. Residents live amid natural beauty while struggling with floods, river erosion and other natural disasters.

Golam Mostafa, Assistant Headteacher of Chak Rajapur High School, said the Padma started rising about a week ago.

“Water is already flowing over the paved road. At present, the road is submerged under knee-deep water. People are wading through the water to return home after finishing their work,” he said.

Milton Khan, a college student from Kalidaskhali Char, said residents have to struggle with nature to survive there.

“Many people have to take serious risks while walking through the water to reach their homes. We are living in fear as the Padma continues to rise,” he said.

Jagul Shikdar, General Secretary of Chak Rajapur Union BNP, and former chairman Azizul Azam said nearly 1,000 houses, educational institutions, markets, a BGB camp and thousands of bighas of cultivated and fallow land have been swallowed by the Padma over the past several years.

The erosion has left thousands of families homeless, they said.

Chak Rajapur Union Parishad comprises 15 chars in the Padma. As the river continues to swell, residents are naturally growing increasingly anxious, they added.