SATKHIRA:Very sad Life still remains a misery for the people in two upazilas of Satkhira district as it used to be three years ago, when the cyclone Aila left a trail of devastation.
About 30 percent of the Aila victims are still living on upland and embankments without any job, pure drinking water and safe sanitation facilities.
They cannot return home, as they are yet to receive a grant from the government announced in 2010 in a bid to help them rebuild their houses.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Shyamnagar on July 23 in 2010 and committed to allocate Tk 20 thousand per family in the form of grant for house building.
But the affected people said they had not yet received a single penny of the money due to some legal complexities, though the money is lying idle with two banks in Satkhira.
However, Shyamnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Doulotuzzaman Khan told daily sun that the legal complexity had been removed and that the victims would get the money soon.
On May 25 in 2009 the cyclone battered the coastal area in the south, including Satkhira.
The worst-affected unions are Gabura and Padmapukur under Shyamnagar upazila and Protapnagar under Assassuni upazila.
A total of 117 km embankments were damaged. Of them, 64 km were damaged fully. On the other hand, 73 people were killed in the natural disaster.
Besides, three lakh or 300 thousand people were rendered homeless in the district and shrimp on 32 thousand hectares of land and crops on 2 thousand hectares of land were washed away.
Hundreds of thousands of people took shelter on upland and embankments.
Government and non-government organisations stood beside the victims with humanitarian aid, including food, clothing, medical service and shelter for about two years.
The damaged embankments have also been reconstructed. But people of the affected areas have no work as agricultural and shrimp lands are totally affected. Crops cannot be grown on the agricultural land because of the high salinity of soil. So they are jobless.
Hundreds of them have already left the area and settled elsewhere.
SCARS OF AILA
# Salinity leaves cropland barren triggering a job crisis
# No supply of drinking water
# Victims yet to receive govt grant for house building
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