Jashore madrasah building tilts after riverbank collapse

A three-storey building of a Fazil madrasah in Manirampur upazila of Jashore has tilted towards the Harihar River after a section of the riverbank collapsed, raising fears.
The authorities have stopped using the building and shifted classes to other facilities as a precaution.
The madrasah, established in 1974 on privately owned land in the Mohanpur area of the municipality, is located beside the river. 
According to madrasa authorities and officials, soil beneath the building’s foundation was washed away after a recently excavated section of the riverbank collapsed under water pressure. 
Cracks have subsequently developed in the building’s beams, walls, floors and other parts.
The Education Engineering Department (EED) constructed the ground floor in 2012 on a foundation designed to support a five-storey building. Two additional floors were added in 2022. The ground floor housed the madrasah’s administrative offices, while classrooms were located on the second and third floors.
A team of officials, including Jashore Executive Engineer Hadiuzzaman Khan, inspected the site on Monday. 
After inspection, Hadiuzzaman said the riverbank behind the madrasa had been cut almost vertically instead of being given a proper slope. As a result, water pressure caused the riverbank to collapse.
He said the riverbank needed to be reconstructed urgently with protective piling, adding that an application seeking funds for the work has already been sent to the chief engineer of the EED.
Jashore Sub-divisional Engineer Ashraful Alam said immediate protective piling was necessary to reconstruct and stabilise the collapsed section of the riverbank.