‘Give us floods, not erosion’

Sounds bizarre, but people living along the river banks in Malda prefer floods to erosion. They believe attempts by engineers and administrators to reign in flood triggered the erosion catastrophe. “Floods do cause a lot of destruction and deaths. But it does not take away the land. Erosion does not kill instantly. But it swallows everything. The very land that bound you to the earth disappears,” said erosion victim Tariqul Islam. Every year, thousands living on chars take refuge on the embankment along the mainland during monsoon deluge, only to return after the floodwaters recede. “It leaves behind a heavy deposit of silt that enriches the soil and makes it naturally fertile,” said boatman Makim Majhi. River expert Kalyan Rudra agreed that attempts to curb flood in the 1960s and ’70s by creating dams and blocking rivers led to Ganga meandering off-course. “Rivers have a natural alignment. By blocking its flow and sealing off channels like Pagla, Kalindi and Bhagirathi, Ganga has been forced to shift course, leading to the erosion,” he said. Erosion has been a cause of concern in Malda since the 1960s with official reports indicating a loss of nearly 14,500 hectare between 1931 and 1978. Irrigation department executive engineer Soumen Mishra acknowledged that the rate of floods and erosion had increased manifold since the Farakka barrage was built. “Since 1980, nearly 4,900 hectares have been lost to the river. That is frighteningly huge in a state where land is scarce,” he pointed out.