Zakir Azad, Cumilla

The entire Cumilla affected by the flood. Houses were drowned in Flood water, valuable items were washed away. Many of the helpless people have left their homes and settled in shelters. Night and day are spent in poor conditions.

But in the meantime, there is a fear of robbers in the district. There are complaints that robbers are attacking in different areas after night. Sleepless nights are spent in flood-affected areas to escape from robbers. At night, from many areas, the mosque’s microphone is calling the residents to be careful.

Meanwhile, due to the number of robbers, relief distribution and rescue work in many places, volunteers are facing obstacles. They are often embarrassed to provide relief at night. And the victims say that in many places, at night, a group of robbers enters the house and loots everything, claiming to give relief.

On the other hand, the police say that many miscreants are taking this opportunity to commit crimes like robbery in remote flooded areas. Police are vigilant, but along with the police, people also need to build social resistance.

It is known that the fear of dacoits has increased in different upazilas of Cumilla since last one week. Especially after the Gomti river embankment broke last Thursday, it has been alleged that gangs of robbers are attacking the flooded areas. Prior to this, the information about bandits started coming from other upazilas of the flood-affected district. In particular, reports of robberies are coming from nearby villages including Zarain, Purnamati, Bakshimul of Burichong upazila of Comilla, Sahebabad, Takai, Jiruin of Brahmanpara upazila. People of these areas are united and guarding the area at night for fear of robbers.

School teacher Atiqur Rahman, a resident of Jiruin village of Brahmanpara upazila, said that for the past 3 days we have been united and keeping vigil at night. I hear there is a robbery in the surrounding area. So I am doing this as an additional precaution. Around 2 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, we got information that a group of people were coming towards our area from our neighboring area – after getting the information, we joined forces and came down the road.

The mosque’s microphone urged everyone to be careful. Every night there is a panic of robbers in different areas, advice to be careful comes from the microphone of the mosque. Residents are spending the night in fear. The group of robbers looted everything while talking about giving relief. Housewife Shariman Sultana of Bakshimul village of Burichong Upazila said, a day ago there was a robbery at my uncle’s house. Even though our house was waist-deep in flood water, we did not leave the house. Now I am afraid – if the bandits attack again.

Volunteer Shihab, who came to Cumilla from Dhaka to carry out relief and rescue operations, said that due to the fear of robbers, we have to face embarrassing situations in many places. It was around 11 o’clock last night when we finished the relief distribution program. I was returning from a remote area by speedboat. The lack of light was scaring us a bit. Seeing a boat in front of us, we stopped in fear, they were also afraid of us. After stopping like this for a while, when I took the courage to pass by them, I realized that they are also volunteers like us. Later I came to know that they were also afraid of us as robbers.

Meanwhile, when Home Advisor Lt. Gen. (retd) Jahangir Alam, who visited the flood-affected areas in Comilla on Monday, was asked about the issue of dacoity, he said, “It is very sad if such an incident happens during such a disaster.” As the whole area is flooded. Not all places are easily accessible. It takes a lot of time to go even if the police knows, so the people along with the police must unite to prevent it.

Cumilla Police Superintendent Md Saidul Islam said the same thing. When asked about this, he said, we are getting such news from different places separately. The whole area is flooded. Two days ago, when I went to deliver relief by boat, I saw that many areas were extremely inaccessible. These areas cannot be visited in daylight. If one hears the alarm of robbers in such a remote area at night, then it is not possible to reach there quickly. Now, if such an incident happens anywhere, then the people should come forward along with the police.

He said, there are some people looking for opportunities. They want to seize the opportunity when they get it. Now those are the mischievous people, those involved in crime, involved in the drug trade; It turns out that they are unable to trade drugs because of the ban water, maybe they are now trying to steal something from people. But we are sending police from where we are getting information. But in most places its truth is not available.

Going there, it is known that the situation is actually different. But I am not saying that everything is a lie. Some areas may have. Such a large area, it is difficult for us to notice where what is happening all the time. So along with the police, the people must also be united. Resistance should be built against these.