A tourist spot in Rajshahi city, called T-groyne, was closed to public yesterday as a precautionary measure after the Padma river swelled with water from upstream.

The decision was taken after the Superintendent Engineer of Rajshahi Water Development Board (WDB), Shafiqul Islam, visited the spot yesterday afternoon, our staff correspondent reports quoting Shafiqul Islam Sheikh, executive engineer of WDB Rajshahi.

"In the strong current of the river, some of the sand bags below the groyne were washed away. We observed a risk of accident in this situation," he said.

He explained that the groyne was closed for public safety and for some development work that required the site to be protected, and that sand bags would be dumped beneath the groyne as well.

Many riverside slums were flooded, crop fields inundated, and water entered many low-lying houses as water of Padma river rose, according to WDB officials.

The Rajshahi Town Protection dam has been damaged in several areas, forcing WDB officials to hire labourers to pour sand bags to repair the damaged areas.

WDB recorded some six centimeters rise in the Padma river water in 12 hours till 6:00 am today. The Water Development Board's engineers said, there was nothing for city dwellers to be worried in the trend of swelling Padma.

They said although the danger level was fixed at 18.5 meters, the town protection dam is situated at a height of 21 meters.

Aminul Islam, the district relief and rehabilitation officer of Rajshahi said, some 4,000 people, of them 2,500 from Bagha upazila and 1,500 people from Godagari upazila, have been marooned.

The affected people were given 15 tons of rice and Tk two lakh because they lost their jobs and were spending their days building makeshift houses on dams, he said.

Arman Ali, Rajshahi City Corporation's ward councilor, said that 3,000 people in his ward have been forced to leave their homes and are now living in makeshift tents on the dam.

He said that no assistance could be arranged for them yet.