Bandarban Correspondent: Last week’s devastating floods in Bandarban have caused damage to the communication, agriculture, education, tourism, and fisheries sectors worth Tk 700 crore, it has been officially reported. However, if we calculate the damage to most of the offices, businesses, and houses in the district headquarters due to the flood, many people think that the amount of money will exceed thousands of crores of rupees. District Agriculture Department Deputy Director (Cereals) Hasan Ali said that this year’s flood has destroyed the crops of 71 thousand farmers on 8 thousand 853 hectares of land.
The amount of loss in rupees is 310 crores (73 lakhs). Affected crops include aman and seedling paddy, banana, papaya, cashew nut, jum cultivation, and various autumn vegetables. The higher authorities have been informed to create seed beds along with incentives for the affected farmers and to compensate for the losses. Executive Engineer of the Bandarban Directorate of Local Government Engineering Ziaul Islam Majumdar said that out of 900 km of roads in the district, 300 km of roads have been damaged. About 150 crore rupees are required to repair the roads. Also, another 20 lakh rupees are required for office equipment.
Proposal sent. The work will be started once the allocation is received. He said that most of the damaged roads have not yet been restored to normal traffic. Rural roads suffered more damage. Mosleh Uddin, Executive Engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, said that there are 460 kilometers of roads in the district. Out of the 181 km of roads under the supervision of the Bangladesh Army (ECB), 50 km of roads have been severely damaged. It may take 20–25 days to complete the communication system. Damage to all the roads in Bandarban Road Division is Rs. 30 crore. Also, within 10 months of construction at a cost of Tk 266 crore, many parts of the 23-kilometer Bandarban-Keranihat highway have collapsed. It has become a death trap in many places.
According to the road department, 266 crore and 56 lakh rupees were spent on the construction of the 23 km long road, including widening, raising the places of the road submerged in flood water, 21 bridges, 15 culverts, and 21 km of drainage infrastructure. Yasir Arafat, Executive Engineer of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board, said that 42 crores of dollars of damage have been caused due to floods and landslides on various roads of the development board.
District Fisheries Officer Abhijit Sheel said that 430 reservoirs and 160 fish farming projects with dams in the Fisheries Department have been affected by the flood. The amount of loss is about 3 crore rupees. He said 150 reservoirs and 30 lakes have been washed away in Lama Upazila. According to the district primary education office, 127 primary schools have been submerged in the flood in seven upazilas of the district.
The educational materials, infrastructure, and furniture of these schools have been damaged. The amount of loss in rupees is 1 crore, 39 lakh, 65 thousand rupees. Even though the water receded, classes have not started in many schools as they are full of mud. Many students could not come because their houses were submerged and textbooks and clothes were destroyed. Due to the unplanned and low-lying construction of buildings and the negligence of officials and employees, 28,000 rare book office documents of the district public library were destroyed. There are no books in the library. The tourism industry, the main sector of Bandarban, has suffered a lot due to the floods.
Most of the main roads leading to the tourist centers are broken. Road communication with Ruma and Thanchi upazilas is still disconnected. Both roads may take a month to repair and open. Hotel Motel Resort Owners Association President and General Secretary Amal Kanti Dash and Md. Sirajul Islam said that several big hotels have been drowned in this year’s flood. Roads leading to tourist spots are blocked. District headquarters, Ruma and Thanchi tourist centers, and hotel resorts are also lying empty. More than five hundred tourist vehicles, hotel motel workers, and tourist guides are unemployed.
According to environmentalists, unplanned development, indiscriminate felling of hills and destruction of forests, cutting of soil from hills for brickfields, and high embankment for the Dohajari Cox’s Bazar railway line have made this flood evident. Locals are of the opinion that this problem may happen every year from now on.
