Meghna threatens Hatiya business hub

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River erosion has taken a serious turn at Tamaraddi point, imperiling the business lifeline of Hatiya.

A Z M Anas
Hatiya (Noakhali): Hatiya's business heartland Tamaraddi Bazaar is facing the risk of being wiped out in less than a year as a result of the Meghna's erosion, fuelled mainly by climatic as well as geo-morphological changes.
If the roiling river bank at Tamaraddi point creeps further a few hundred metres eastward, the movement will wash away hundreds of business establishments in the once-famed trading hotspot whose history dates back to the 18th century.
Local businessmen and officials say erosion on the western part of Hatiya, the country's second largest island, took a serious turn last month, understandably when raging waters of this year's annual monsoon floods started to recede from the upstream.
Leading water scientist Inun Nishat supported the views, noting the massive sedimentation after the recent floods and the emergence of a few char lands surrounding the island can be the "plausible" reason behind the worst form of erosion around Hatiya.
"The river erosion around Hatiya is caused by the geo-morphological changes. Usually, erosion in this area takes worse form when flood waters start recede from the upstream carrying huge silt, thus deflecting the course of current," Nishat said, adding climate change also played its role.
"Although erosion at this point has been taking place for the last three years, the pace accelerated last month, swallowing around half a kilometre tract of land," said president of Tamaraddi Bazaar Banik Samity Belayet Hossain Miron.
Miron, a business magnate by local standards, warned if erosion shows no sign of relents, Hatiya's premier business hub will be perished any day before the next rainy season.
He figured out that the economic losses, if Tamaraddi Bazaar goes under the river bed alone, could be a whopping Tk 2.0 billion.
The potential catastrophe looms over the local people and business community will add to their litany of woes-persistent erosion, precarious communications system and of course, desperate poverty.
Erosion has put, businessmen insist, an estimated 800 business outlets and shops, three educational institutions, a health complex, three bank branches, a BTTB sub-station, WDB office, a public food godown, mosques and thousands of homes at risk.
"Today, the bazaar is just less than 300 metres away from the rushing river bank. So, erosion may engulf the 300-year-old business centre just before the next rainy season," Laksman Babu, the oldest wholesaler of the bazaar, said in a recent interview.
Over centuries, traders of Tamaraddi have maintained direct riverine communications with other important coastal business hubs such as Chandpur, Barisal, Chittagong, Khulana, Bhola and Manpura.
Each and every day, hundreds of trawlers (mechanised boats) carrying goods and essential items, like rice, onion, pepper, and sugar, call at Tamaraddi ghat, making it one of the busiest riverine centres of the coastal belt.
"Tamaraddi was once one of the most famed trading hotspots in the coastal region. At the secondary level text book, Tamaraddi was recognised as one of important coastal business hubs," recalled Enamul Huq, principal of Hatiya Adarsha Mohila College. "It still sends me shivers when I conjure up the image of the ever bustling bazaar to be gobbled up by the river."
Almost half of Hatiya has been swallowed by the mighty Meghna since late 1970s, local administration officials and people say, leaving as many as 200,000 islanders "climate refugees," the majority of whom streamed into the Chittagong Hill Tracts area, Nijhum Dwip and other newly-emerged char lands. A tiny "fortunate" fraction moved, however, to the mainland Noakhali or major cities to escape the hazards of recurrent shifts within the island.
Talking to this correspondent, Union Parishad Chairman Azher Uddin said unless the government takes "immediate steps" to protect Hatiya's business hub, the neglect will cause around Tk 2.0 billion in economic losses.
"It certainly calls for immediate government attention … You can imagine the potentially colossal losses of properties and businesses-the daily business transaction at Tamaraddi Bazar is estimated at Tk 10 million alone," the UP chairman said.
When contacted over telephone, Hatiya Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abul Hashem said the upazila administration has already brought the matter to the notice of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) for "prompt action."
"We've sent several letters to the authorities concerned. Water experts of the board conducted a study on the protective measure. We're waiting for the response in this connection," Hashem pointed out.
Citing success in other areas, BWDB officials insisted that the ongoing erosion at Tamaraddi point could be tamed by improved mechanism.
"Erosion, which is taking place along 2.0-kilometre bank of the Tamaraddi point, can be checked by means of laying concrete blocks and geo-textile bags," Harun-ur-Rashid, sub-divisional engineer of BWDB said.
The total cost for the purpose is estimated to be between Tk 100 and Tk 110 million, he added.
But Nishat has disputed with the conclusion of officials on the possible solution to the river erosion.
"River training is possible with the existing technology, albeit it is expensive. Money will go down the drain, if officials rush into fixing the problem without proper design or modelling," Nishat, who is also the country director of International Union for Conservation of Nature, said in an interview.