'Devastation by Teesta is yet to start'

Roving Correspondent, Nilphamari

"It is just the beginning of flooding by Teesta", said 65 year-old boatman Nurul Islam।
"The seasonal rainfall in the hill region (in India) will aggravate the situation in coming days", he said.
On board the boat, Abdul Bashar, said the river fell slightly in the morning but started swelling again at noon.
Bashar of Safitari village in Dimla upazila in Nilphamari district, a truck driver by profession, was moving to safety with his family.
On Saturday, this correspondent moved from place to place on boats to see the havoc by the Teesta and talked to people and officials.
"Flooding by Teesta depends on Gajandoba Barrage in India", said a Water Development Board official.
Teesta rages when India opens the barrage gates. While receding, it erodes villages, he said.
"Devastation (erosion) by Teesta is yet to start", he said.
The river has devoured many villages along its banks in Gaib-andha, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur districts in the last ten days.
In Lalmonirhat, official reports said, over 100 square kilometre area in Borokhata, Guddimari, Shin-gimari, Shindurna, Patik-apara, Dauabari, Dahagram, Shreerampur, Jongra, Jagotber and Baura unions have gone under water, affecting over one lakh people, damaging about 3000 houses and crops on over 1000 hectares.
Some 500 people left homes in Deuabari and Patikapara unions where at least 30 families become homeless on Wednesday as Teesta devoured their homesteads, local people said.
Part of the Parulia Government Primary High School has gone into water and the rest will vanish in a day or two, they said.
In Nilphamari, most areas of Chhotokhata and Shafitari villages in Dimla upazila have been eroded by the Teesta, making over 1000 people homeless, Yasin Ali said.
Ali of Chhotokatha village, who along with others took shelter on bank of Teesta Barrage, said none came to see their miseries and provide relief.
Labourer Noimuddin, who is among hundreds on the bank, said he heard that four kilogram rice per head was allotted for a few of them but nothing reached so far.
In charlands, thousands of people are marooned, with no supply of food and water.
A boatload of rice for them, allocated by the district administration, sank while being taken across the river, claimed Aynal Haque, Dauabari Union Parishad Mamber.
"The people there are suffering as they do not dare to cross the river ", said Patikapara Union Parishad Mojibor Rahman.
At Patgram, nearly 80 percent of the municipal area has gone under water as the Teesta started rising again, relief official Osman Khondokar said.
A portion of the North Parulia Government Primary School in Nilphamari has been washed away and the rest is threatened by flood। Photo: Anwar Ali