The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge was inaugurated in 1998 over the Jamuna River. At 4.8 kilometers in length, it is the second-longest bridge in the country. Until now, the bridge has been used for both road and rail transport.

A new railway bridge was recently constructed just 300 meters north of the Jamuna Bridge. On February 12 of this year, the first trial run of a passenger train took place on this newly built bridge, which is the longest railway bridge in the country. It was officially inaugurated on March 18.

Since the first bridge over the mighty Jamuna was constructed, the river has started experiencing negative impacts. Numerous chars (river islands) have formed in the river. As a result, the waterway is facing a navigability crisis, disrupting smooth boat and vessel movement. Experts warn that building a second bridge so close to the first one could worsen this problem.

Not only is navigation affected—but local fishermen and farmers rely heavily on the Jamuna River for their livelihood. The rise of chars has made fishing and agriculture more difficult. During the rainy season, the Jamuna overflows its banks, but in the dry season, the river dries up, and countless chars become visible. Due to years without dredging, silt has gradually filled the riverbed. In the monsoon season, the villages in the char areas face flooding risks and erosion.

Although different governments have undertaken projects to address the issue over the years, no real progress has been made. As a result, there has been no noticeable improvement in the development or preservation of the waterway.

Professor A.S.M. Saifullah from the Department of Environmental Science and Resource Management at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University in Tangail said, "All rivers in Bangladesh carry a huge amount of silt downstream yearly. This silt gets blocked and spreads out nearby when there are structures like bridges. That's how chars form. Our observations show that chars appear nearby or farther away where bridges are built. This causes navigability problems and even alters the river's course. At some point, the bridges themselves are at risk. Because when chars form, dredging is done to keep the river flowing, and this dredging can threaten the bridge's stability. That's why building bridges too close together is not a good idea. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is usually done before such projects. I don't know if it was done in this case."

On-site visits to the Sirajganj area of the Jamuna River show that chars have formed, and the river has lost depth in many places, turning into stagnant channels. People now have to take longer routes by boat to cross the river, wasting both time and money.

The Jamuna River flows for about 80 kilometers through the Sirajganj district. It enters from Kazipur in the north and runs south through Sirajganj Sadar, Belkuchi, and Chauhali, ending at Shahjadpur upazila. However, due to the rise of chars (sandbars or river islands), the only means of livelihood for nearly 4,000 families—fishing and boat driving—has been nearly cut off. Once a mighty river, parts of the Jamuna are now used to grow crops in the middle of its dried-up bed. In the dry season, the river holds little to no water, but when the monsoon arrives, it overflows its banks and causes widespread damage. Because the river can no longer hold enough water, floods cause serious harm to homes and crops.

Local engine-boat drivers say that because the water level has dropped and chars have formed, they must take long, winding routes to reach their destinations. The extra time and fuel costs have reduced the number of passengers. If the chars keep forming like this, almost all engine boats may have to stop running in the future. Boatmen, whose lives depend entirely on the river, now worry about how they'll support their families.

Altaf Ali, a farmer from Natuapara in Kazipur upazila, said, "Years ago, I lost all my land to river erosion. Now, I grow a small amount of boro rice on a char that emerged in the middle of the river. During summer, the river dries up, and chars appear. But in the rainy season, since the river has lost depth, even a little water causes dangerous floods. This has become a curse for the people here. Every year, thousands of locals suffer because of flooding." People here believe if the river were dredged to increase its depth and keep the flow going, their suffering would be reduced.

Nasima Akhter, a schoolteacher, said, "Climate change is also affecting the Jamuna. If the river isn't dredged soon to deepen it, many villages across five upazilas of the district could face flooding during the monsoon. As the river dries up, it's not just people's lifestyles changing—trees, crops, and overall agriculture are also being affected. The district's total vegetable and crop production is declining. Around 2,000 boatmen families who depend on the river for a living are now at risk of losing their livelihood. On top of that, the fishermen who catch fish from the river are also in crisis."

Brahmaputra River originates from the Jiema Yongzong Glacier, near Mount Kailash in the Himalayan mountain range in western Tibet. Flowing eastward through Tibet under the name "Tsangpo," it enters India's Arunachal Pradesh, where it is called "Siang" or "Siyang." As it flows through Assam in India, it is known as the "Dihang" and is joined by two major rivers—the Dibang and the Lohit. At this point, the river widens on the plains and becomes known as the Brahmaputra.

The Brahmaputra originates near the sacred lake Mansarovar, close to Mount Kailash, and flows through Tibet and Assam before entering Bangladesh through Kurigram. Near Dewanganj in Jamalpur, it bends southeast, flows through Jamalpur and Mymensingh districts, and finally merges with the Meghna River south of Bhairab Bazar.

In 1787, a major earthquake caused the riverbed of the Brahmaputra to rise, leading to a shift in its course. Before that, it used to flow straight across Mymensingh. After the earthquake, a new river branch formed—what we now know as the Jamuna River. Every year, about 1.2 billion tons of silt are carried by the Jamuna, leading to the formation of countless large and small chars within the river.

During the monsoon season, the Jamuna swells dramatically. The river can become destructive at that time, especially causing severe erosion along the right bank in the Sirajganj district.

In 2010, under a project titled "Capital (Pilot) Dredging of River System in Bangladesh," a plan was taken to carry out capital and maintenance dredging along 22 kilometers of the Jamuna River. The goal was to shift the river's flow about one kilometer inward from the riverbank and to maintain a defined river channel. Another goal was to protect the Sirajganj Hard Point and the west guide embankment of the Jamuna Bridge from erosion.

The estimated cost for this project was BDT 4.22 billion. In the first year, 3.5 kilometers of dredging was done upstream of the Jamuna Bridge, and in the second year, 4 kilometers downstream. The targeted depth was 40 feet. One of the main purposes of this dredging was to direct the river to flow through a specific channel.

The project was completed in 2016. However, because there was no maintenance afterward, the dredged areas have now filled up again with silt. Also, out of the 80 kilometers of river flowing through the district, dredging only 7.5 kilometers raises questions about how effective or logical that was.

Another report mentions that between 2009–10 and 2016, about 50 kilometers of the river were dredged from Aricha to Baghabari to restore navigability. But currently, that waterway is no longer fully operational.

The executive engineer (Civil) of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in Sirajganj said, "Jamuna is one of the largest rivers in the country. It's about eight kilometers wide, and it's difficult to keep such a massive river flowing in a fixed path just by dredging. Even if dredging is done, it requires regular maintenance. But given our resources, it's not easy to fully dredge the Jamuna or maintain navigability in the dredged areas. Still, we are doing as much as possible—dredging and carrying out other related activities."

Attempts were made to contact Mohammad Asaduzzaman, the official at the Baghabari River Port, for his comments, but he did not answer multiple phone calls.

Fishermen living along the river said there used to be plenty of fish in the Jamuna. Thousands of fishing families lived off what they caught and sold at local markets. At that time, fish markets based on the Jamuna thrived in different upazilas of the district, and fish from this river would be sent all over the country. But now, fish are scarce. As water levels have dropped and sandbars (chars) have risen, fish populations have declined sharply. Many fishermen have had to leave the profession. Those who still rely on the river barely make ends meet—many live in hunger or half-fed.

Rafiqul Islam, a boatman from the Natuapara ferry ghat in Kazipur upazila, said, "During the monsoon, the Jamuna overflows both banks. But in the dry season, the river dries up, and countless sandbars appear, making it impossible to row a boat in a straight line. We have to take long detours to reach our destination. That means more time, more fuel, and more expense."

Ismail Hossain, a resident of the same village, shared, "When we were young, we saw strong currents in the Jamuna. People would get swept away. The current was so powerful that many feared going into the river. But now, with sandbars rising, parts of the river have turned into dead channels." He urged the authorities to dredge the river and restore normal life.

Abdus Salam, a farmer from Tekani village in the same upazila, said, "We truly want the river to survive. It doesn't just give us fish—its water helps us irrigate crops yearly. During the monsoon, when the river overflows, silt gets deposited in the fields, making the soil more fertile and boosting harvests. That's why we want the flow and navigability of the Jamuna—flowing through our district—to be restored through well-planned dredging."

Speaking about the impact of having two bridges built so close to each other, Dr. Mohammad Nazmul Islam, chairman of the Department of Geography and Environment at Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST), said, "In the winter season, the water flow in the Jamuna River's channel becomes very low. But during the monsoon, it increases more than ten times. This river isn't designed to carry large water through a narrow channel. It acts like a bottle—narrow at the neck, holding back the flow. On top of that, the river carries huge amounts of sand and sediment from the Himalayas, which get trapped in these narrow channels. That reduces the river's depth. So, when the next monsoon comes, and water levels rise again, the force of the water starts hitting both sides of the river, causing erosion. This leads to significant damage for us. Because of this bridge project, the riverbank erosion and the number of sandbars forming in the river will only increase."

When asked whether the government had any alternative way to improve connectivity without disrupting the river's natural flow, the expert said, "A bridge is necessary for communication—there's no problem with that. But if the bridge had been planned to connect from Bhuapur point in Tangail to the Syedabad rail crossing in Sirajganj on the other side, it would have covered about 10 kilometers—5 kilometers on each side. That way, there would have been no problem with water flow because around 12 kilometers of space would've been available for water to pass through. But the way it's been done now, only about 5 kilometers is left for the water to flow through. If the bridge had been a bit longer, it would have cost more. But the river and nature would have been preserved. The damage caused by narrowing the river will have long-term financial consequences, and those costs will likely be even greater than building a longer bridge."