About a decade ago, different shipbreaking companies leased a portion of the coast in Kumira union of Chattogram's Sitakunda upazila to set up yards, breaching a section of an earthen embankment.

However, with time, the businesses rounded off their operations, leaving various areas along a two-km stretch of the dyke open for saline water to enter arable land.

Through continued waterlogging, the land has now become uncultivable due to high soil salinity, forcing locals to leave their land barren round the year.

"Our land stays submerged in seawater during full and new moon every month. This has spoiled the fertility of my two-ace agricultural land where I used to cultivate rice and vegetables," said farmer Mohi Uddin of the union's Alakdia village.

Saltwater also enters through the breached portions of the dyke during natural calamities like cyclones, said locals.

Visiting various areas in the union last week, this correspondent saw salt water accumulated on cultivable land following Cyclone Michaung.

"The shipbreakers pulled us closer to destruction while the Water Development Board further exacerbated the condition by leaving the damaged dyke unrepaired," alleged Abdul Mannan, another farmer.

"We have sent formal letters to the authorities concerned, including WDB, but no initiative is being taken for the embankment's reconstruction," said Union Parishad Chairman Mohammed Morshed Hossain Chowdhury.

According to WDB, a two-km portion of the embankment was totally damaged. However, the yards in those areas have temporarily closed their businesses.

Meanwhile, Aslam Jabed, chief executive officer of the closed Asadi Steel Enterprise, claimed the dyke was damaged naturally.

"We leased the land from the government in exchange for a huge sum. We will not vacate the place if we are not paid," he added.

Wishing anonymity, a WDB official said the board is in a land-related conflict with the shipbreakers as it earlier constructed embankments on land that was leased to the companies by the upazila land office.

However, the board has sent a proposal to conduct a fresh study on a 4-km dyke in this union but it's still stuck in red tape, added the official.

Contacted, Tanjir Saif Ahmed, executive engineer of the WDB (Chattogram-2), said they are trying to reconstruct the dyke and have already informed the high-ups.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension of Sitakunda, Kumira is among the most salinity-affected unions in the upazila. However, no data is available on the affected farmers.

Habib Ullah, an official of the department, said, "Many have complained about soil salinity in the region and we regularly provide salt tolerant paddy seed to farmers to help adjust salinity."