Kuthibari embankment collapses again

A large portion of the Kuthibari embankment on Padma River in Kushtia, built at a cost of around Tk200 crore, has again collapsed—a mere three months after its construction.

According to locals, more than 100m of the embankment collapsed within 40 minutes, around 2.10am, on Saturday, in Kaloa area under Koya union council. The erosion poses a threat to more than a hundred households.

Nawab Ali and Sharmi, residents near the embankment, say they lost everything when the river devoured their homesteads within a few minutes.

Locals have moved their belongings and domestic animals to safe places as river erosion can worsen anytime, they said.

Locals alleged the embankment is now their curse as sections of  it collapsed twice in the last few days.

Kuthibari Embankment Project Director Engineer Moniruzzaman said they started to dump geo bags on Sunday to stop the further erosion.

Bangladesh’s government built the embankment to protect a Kuthi Bari (bungalow) once owned by Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, on the bank of the Padma River.

River erosion began destroying the embankment in the Kalua area on September 3.

The river swallowed a 50m section of the embankment, in just moments, on the day.

Local public representatives and people allege that the construction firm, responsible for the embankment project, engaged in irregularities during the implementation of this project, and then abandoned the project in an unfinished state. 

There are allegations that the embankment collapsed due to the negligence by the contractor firm.

According to sources, an embankment stretching 3,720m, on the right bank of the Padma River, was built under the supervision of Kushtia Water Development Board, with government funding.

The contractor firm and the Water Development Board officially completed the project on June 30—albeit reportedly in an unfinished state. Of the 1,300,000 blocks built for the project, 250,000 remain unused.