SIRAJGANJ, July 21 (bdnews24.com): The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) is going to start capital dredging of the river Jamuna channel in an attempt to protect the already breached Sirajganj town flood barrier from further damage and avert any risk to the guide embankments of the Jamuna Bridge, officials said Tuesday.

An 11-member team of BWDB officials, led by additional director general Md Habibur Rahman Zinnah, began bathymetric, or hydrographic, surveys Tuesday morning, of the Jamuna river on the eastern side of the damaged portion of the Sirajganj embankment's Hard-Point.

After completing the emergency survey, the BWDB will start dredging the channel on a pilot basis to avert the river change course on the east side of the Hard-Point.

'If the project is successful, Sirajganj town as well as the guide embankments of the Jamuna Bridge will be protected from erosion," Habibur Rahman told the news agency.

BWDB Director General Md Abul Kalam Azad held an emergency meeting with water board officials, including Rahman and chief engineers, at Sirajganj Monday.

Azad said, "After receiving an urgent order from the prime minister through the water resources ministry, we organised a meeting to prepare for the bathymetric survey of the river-flow and subsequent capital dredging."

He said it would be "very tough and costly" to dredge the Jamuna river as it carried a huge amount of sediment every year. "But we hope to continue this project on a permanent basis, to prevent the channel filling up with sand and the scouring of the embankment."