& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Woes of hundreds in four border villages in Sylhet

Sand and stones from hills across the border bury their homes, cropland and ponds

Iqbal Siddiquee, sylhet
Hundreds of families in four villages on Tahirpur border in Sunamganj are fearing further disaster after sand and stones from landslides in India's Kalapahar hill following torrential rains played havoc with their houses and croplands last month.
Rains are likely to continue intermittently till mid-October in the area.
More than 600 people in the two most-affected Chandpur Noyachhara and Rajaniline villages have been made homeless in the July 20-23 driving rains and intermittent downpour that followed.
Some 30 tubewells have gone out of order and 50 small ponds are now thick with sand. About 500 acres of farmland lie under 2-3 feet of sand and stone. The mosque and Gano Shikkha Kendra at Chandpur Noyachhara had to be closed.
Some parts of the two villages remain inundated with stagnant water. The border road from Laurer Garh to Takerghat has been badly damaged in places. Unspecified * number of border pillars disappeared under stretches of sand.
Villagers in the remote hilly border area are in need of food and water. The local administration said they doled out some food.
The calamity descended on July 20 when landslides triggered by incessant rains in the Meghalaya hill released thousands of tonnes of sand and stone that came rushing down into the villages with rainwater through small streams locally known as 'chhara'.
A Bailey bridge on the Indian side was badly damaged.
Informed sources said excessive limestone and coal mining on Meghalayan hills made the earth in there loose. Monsoon rains then trigger big landslides, which come down into the borderlands and beyond through 18 chharas, making villages on Tahirpur border subject to recurrent environmental disaster.
About 50 border villages from Koroigara to Birendranagar have been facing the onslaughts for last
five years. Already vast swathes of cropland have been badly damaged.
Sunamganj Deputy Commissioner Saber Hossain said the administration would rehabilitate the affected families. On food aid. he said they have already given out two tonnes of rice.
Divisional Commissioner Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, who visited the area Thursday, said it is impossible to stop sand and rocks from rolling down to foothill villages during the monsoon.
He said they would sit with other government departments to figure out whether rainwater could be drained further down by dredging the chharas.
Major Abu Hanifa, operations officer of 17 BDR Battalion, Sunamganj, said. "We re prepar ing a detailed report on the extent of damage and the number of border pillars that disappeared."
"We ll then raise the issue with Indian authorities and ask them for steps to stop the recurrence of such disastrous situations,” he told the Daily Star after visiting the affected villages.