Two Faridpur Villages Vanish into the Padma, Leaving Hundreds Homeless
Severe riverbank erosion along the receding Padma River in Faridpur Sadar Upazila has swallowed two entire villages, displacing hundreds of families and destroying extensive cropland, homes, and vital infrastructure. The affected residents across multiple wards in North Channel Union are now enduring severe humanitarian distress under open skies along embankments. Displaced families face acute shortages of food, safe drinking water, polythene sheets, tents, and essential medical care, while the rapid destruction of their ancestral homesteads and livelihoods has left the entire local community in profound grief and total uncertainty.
The terrifying onslaught of the river completely submerged the village of Joynal Matubbar Dangi within a brief period, turning it into a distant memory. Describing the sudden devastation on Wednesday morning, Md. Mostafa, a member of Ward No. 4 of North Channel Union, stated, ‘The fierce onslaught of the Padma completely erased the village of Joynal Matubbar Dangi in an instant.’ Over two hundred homesteads, thousands of bighas of agricultural land, and 10 government-built shelters under the Ashrayan Project have vanished into the riverbed, leaving hundreds of victims homeless.
The fierce wave of erosion also devastated critical public infrastructure worth tens of millions of taka, completely severing regional road communications. The Kabirpur Bridge in the North Channel Kabirpur area, constructed for BDT 40 million to connect four chars, collapsed entirely into the Padma alongside nearly three kilometres of paved road. Additionally, a local mosque, an Islamic learning centre, and thousands of fruit-bearing and timber trees were washed away, exacerbating the vulnerability of the region while elderly residents wept helplessly as their hands-built ancestral properties sank into the water.
Desperate locals have demanded urgent emergency relief alongside permanent rehabilitation and the immediate dumping of geo-bags to construct a protective embankment against further collapse. Addressing the critical situation, Md. Rakib Hossain, Executive Engineer of the Faridpur Water Development Board, noted that local Member of Parliament Nayab Yousuf had already inspected the Kabirpur erosion site. Engineer Rakib Hossain stated, ‘Necessary action will be taken in accordance with subsequent directives,’ as authorities prepare preliminary steps to tackle the ongoing catastrophe.
