The road from Kanuri village to Dimaguri village in Golokganj damaged by erosion. Telegraph picture

Dhubri, Sept. 28: Erosion during the third wave of floods in lower Assam has not only caused widespread damage to rural infrastructure but is also threatening border roads and fences.

Floodwaters of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries have eroded two roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana — one from Kanuri to Dimaguri village and the other from Rahmatganj Madrasa to Tollgate in Golokganj circle of Dhubri district. A 500m stretch of the Kanuri-Dimaguri road has already been eroded while about 1km of the Rahmatganj Madrasa-Tollgate road is being eroded by the Gangadhar river.

An official source said unabated erosion continues in Bhalukmari, Sundarpara, Dakurbhita, Fakirganj, Munshi Bazar, Ravatary and Chatlapar areas under South Salmara Assembly constituency, while floodwaters have caused widespread damage to houses and a border road between Sishumara and Hazirhat (Resumari) under Mancachar constituency in Dhubri district.

In Golokganj constituency, there has been largescale erosion at Moisa, Gaur Jhapusabari, Kumarganj and Char Binnachara villages.

Erosion has also wreaked havoc in Motirchar and Gaspara villages and in areas south of Newghat under Dhubri Assembly constituency, displacing over 1,000 families.

In Goalpara district, unabated erosion from Pancharatna to Jaleswar and from Medattari to Jaleswar and Buraburi in the north has caused severe damage to cultivable land and houses.

Erosion by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries has not only washed away large chunks of roads near the Indo-Bangladesh border, but is also threatening the border fence.

Former Golokganj legislator and Nagarik Unnayan Mancha president Dinesh Chandra Sarkar critised the indifferent attitude of the government towards unabated erosion. He said if measures were not taken immediately, many areas in Golokganj would be wiped off the map.

“Apart from engulfing vast areas in Golkganj, erosion has also caused severe damage to border roads and fencing, which is a threat to our national security,” he said.

He said they had submitted memoranda to the Dhubri deputy commissioner several times, one of them recently, but no protection measures had been taken up by the government till date.

Though the water level of the Brahmaputra is reportedly falling, nearly 5 lakh people of nearly 600 villages are still battling floods.

An official source in Dhubri said though the flood situation had improved, about 2 lakh people in the district were bearing the brunt of the floods. A rescue operation, which was launched three days back, is still on, while relief operations were started yesterday, the source said.