The huge soil cutting for earth-filling work to build housing estates aggravate floods and make the villages more vulnerable, the protesters said and demanded an end to this immediately.

People of all classes including farmers, teachers, students and social workers from Firingikanda, Bahir Char, Chhagla Kandi, Chunar Char, Nola Garia, Nander Khamar, Salla Para and Char Tulatali villages joined the massive procession.

This correspondent during a visit to Firingikand Bazar saw processionists chanting slogans against the soil extraction and governments indifference to their sufferings from this.

They told this correspondent that a housing company was taking the soil through dredgers to their housing estate being build in Amin Bazar.

Dredging from the riverbeds and low-lying lands will accelerate erosion and make the areas more vulnerable to floods and lands unfit for crop production, they said.

They claimed that the housing company, backed by an influential local BNP leader and lawmaker has been cutting soil with 15 dredgers from last year.

Abdul Baten of Fringikanda village said he has 18 bighas of land on the riverbank. "Big portions of the lands have melted into the river due to the soil lifting and the rest are threatened now", he said.

Md. Yusuf Ali of Bahir Char and Md Ahsan Ullah of Nander Char alleged that vast areas in the eight villages will be affected by the soil cutting.

They also said the soil cutting began last year but was stopped following protest by villagers. It resumed this year.

They alleged the housing company is being backed by Vakurta Union Parishad chairman, a leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and the lawmaker from the area, Dewan Mohammad Saluddin.

When contacted, Dewan Mohammad Salauddin said the housing company is extracting soil after taking permission from the relevant ministry.