Mighty Padma strikes school in Manikganj

The Sutalari Ramchandrapur Government Primary School in the char area of Harirampur upazila of Manikganj is on the verge of being devoured by the Padma River. 

One-third of the building has already collapsed and the remaining portion will be swallowed up within a few days, say locals.

Last year, the distance between the school and the riverbank was half a kilometre. And that distance is now not even an inch due to the severity of this year's erosion.

The local administration and the education department are now looking for a new location to rebuild the 84-year-old school.

According to the upazila education office, the school, established in 1937 at Dhulshura in the upazila, was once before shifted to the Sutalari union of the upazila in 2007 due to erosion.

At the start of this year’s erosion, the upazila education office informed the water development board (WDB) in writing about the situation through the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO). 

Harirampur UNO Saiful Islam said: “The day I received the letter from the upazila primary education office, I informed the water development board and the deputy commissioner.”

Manikganj WDB Executive Engineer Mayeen Uddin said: “I was notified of the situation through a letter from the UNO in the last week of July. Even though the area is beyond our jurisdiction, we dumped around 9,000 sandbags across 200 metres to prevent the erosion on an emergency basis.”