Padma river relics still unguarded

People on Sunday continued taking away bricks of relics that showed up in the River Padma in Rajshahi as water has receded, witnesses said.
Sources said a fisherman on Thursday saw the top of a building under the water at Chak Rajapur of Bagha when he went fishing there and the top showed up on Friday as water receded.
The relics are said to have been built in the 16th century when Afghan Jagirdar Laskar Khan Pathan, who was later defeated by Mughal commander Mansingh, was ruler of the area.
The bricks of the relics are 12 inches long and 6 inches wide, according to experts, and they resemble the bricks of a 16th-century mosque still standing at Bagha.
The district administration has, meanwhile, directed the upazila administration to protect the relics as people of Chak Rajapur are, according to witnesses, taking away bricks of the relic by boat.
A huge crowd had gathered on the bank of the Padma at Chak Rajapur, about 25km off Bagha, to see the relics.
The visitors are reaching the relics by boat or are swimming up to the place to take out bricks, stones, tubs and even human bones.
The Gargari union council chairman, Mohammad Nazrul Islam, alleged they had repeatedly requested the deputy commissioner, upazila nirbahi officer and police administration to deploy law enforcers soon after the relics had been spotted.
‘I personally took initiatives to deploying some village policemen but they failed to stop the people,’ Nazrul said.
Senior Varendra Research Museum archaeologist Abdus samad, who visited the spot on Saturday, said the bricks were similar to those used in a 16th-century mosque at Bagha.
The Chak Rajapur High School headmaster, Ismail Hossain, said they had asked the upazila nirbahi officer and the Bagha police officer-in-charge, who visited the spot, to save the site from people but no police had been deployed.
The headmaster said a large number of people were pouring in from nearby upazilas of neighbouring Kushtia, Natore and Pabna to see the relics.
‘Many of them are pulling out bricks, woods and stones. We have failed to stop them from doing so,’ he said.
Chak Rajapur Government Primary School teacher Majibur Rahman said they had stood the stop and asked people not to take away the bricks. Some people also said another had found tub and taken it away.
The Rajshahi deputy commissioner, Shefaul Karim, told New Age he had asked the upazila nirbahi office to deploy law enforcers to protect the relics.
He said the authorities would soon launch a drive to recover the bricks and other materials taken away by the people.
The Bagha upazila nirbahi officer, Dewan Mohammad Shahriar Firoz, said they had sent letters to the police and the archaeology department to take steps to protect the relics.
‘Police have been deployed in the area so that people cannot take away bricks and others materials after I sent a letter to the police,’ Shahriar claimed.
The Bagha police officer-in-charge, Aminur Rashid, said it was too difficult to protect the relics as they were under water.
Regional director of the archaeology department in Rajshahi Mohammad Badrul Alam on Sunday visited the spot and collected samples.

Courtesy of NewAgebd