Madhabkunda deaths fail to raise alarm
As many of 20 people drowned in the ditch of Madhabkunda waterfall in Baralekha upazila under Moulvibazar district during the last several years, but authorities are yet to take adequate safety measures at the scenic tourist spot.
Attracted by the picturesque hills and the country's biggest natural waterfall, a large number of tourists throng the area every year but they are hardly aware of the dangers, especially while bathing in the deep ditch of the waterfall and climbing the steep hill.
There the tourism period begins with the onset of rains when the waterfall assumes a more attractive look, said locals and forest officials.
Tourists, desiring to have the thrill of bathing and swimming in the water down the hills, often go to the deep 'danger area' of the ditch, they said.
Defying risk, many tourists also climb the 200 feet hill.
On August 1, Rahimul Islam Real, 19, a student of Uttara Anwara Model Degree College in Dhaka, drowned in the ditch of the waterfall. Real went there with 12 other students.
Another tragedy followed as local shopkeeper Fayez Ahmed, 28, who had helped the fire brigade divers in finding Real's body the next day, died of heart attack after seeing the body.
On August 29 in 2007, Al Fateh Shahi, a student of Stamford University of Dhaka, drowned in the ditch of Madhabkunda waterfall. On May 25 the same year, Anisur Rahman, a fourth year BBA student of South-East Univer-sity, borrowed the same fate.
Two students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet died as they slipped off from 200 feet height of the hill, locals said.
Seven people including five students drowned in the ditch of the waterfall between 2004 and 2007.
A lessee of Moulvibazar Zila Parishad looks after the waterfall area. Local people said Madhabkunda should be handed over to the tourism or forest department for maintenance and safety.
“There are warning signboards in the waterfall area and forest guards are posted there. But tourists often overlook the signboards and ignore the guards,” Sylhet Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Delwar Hussain told the reporters.
Twenty people died in Madhabkunda waterfall, he said.
A project has been taken up to construct a wall in the 'danger area' of the ditch, the DFO said, adding that the LGED will implement the project in the current financial year at a cost of Tk 20 lakh.
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