A mosque that locals said had stood for more than a century was swept away by the Saryu-Ghaghra river in Barabanki’s Hetampur village on Sunday as heavy rain and rising water flow intensified riverbank erosion. The advancing river is now threatening an ancient temple and a veterinary hospital, prompting officials to move equipment from the hospital and deploy personnel to check further erosion.
Local accounts put its age at more than 100 years, though the claim could not immediately be independently verified. The river had reached within around 15 metres of the building, while its boundary wall had already been washed away. He directed officials to obtain further details from the Irrigation Department, whose personnel were overseeing the situation. The Baba Narayan Das temple, described by local residents as very old, is now facing the river as the land around it continues to erode. The veterinary hospital has also come within the erosion zone.
Barabanki district magistrate Ishan Pratap Singh said officials had been deployed at the site to make arrangements to check further erosion and protect vulnerable structures. Irrigation department executive engineer (floods) Shashi Kant Singh said the mosque had been swept away and that the Baba Narayan Das temple and Hetampur veterinary hospital were also under threat from the advancing erosion. “Efforts are being made to save the structures and check the erosion,” he said. Officials said the erosion had intensified following sustained rainfall and increased discharge in the river system Irrigation personnel and other officials have been deployed at the site to monitor the riverbank and vulnerable structures and check further erosion.
The mosque had already suffered substantial damage as the river steadily eroded the bank before the remaining portion was washed away.
