In Bengal’s Malda, Farmers’ Struggle Against a Hungry Ganga Continues

Malda (West Bengal): “We have been living in the banks of the Ganga for generations. Had the government paid more attention to river-bank erosion, we would have been spared of the struggle of resettling every other year, and rebuilding our homes again,” says Biswanath Mondal, a resident of Bhutani Ganga in the Malda district of West Bengal. 

This monsoon, Biswanath witnessed his once home being swallowed in no time by the tumultuous Ganga. For the people living in Manikchak, Kaliachak, Harishchandrapur and Ratua, this has been an all-too-familiar scenario. The locals’ name for the revered river is grim – Hungry Ganga. It has a voracious appetite for devouring hundreds of acres of cultivated land and settlements with each passing monsoon.

Nestled between the Ganga and the Fulahar rivers, Bhutni Char is a deltaic river island comprising 63 villages with a population of nearly 90,000. The Ganga stretches expansively in this area, and even in early December, the opposite bank appears quite distant when you are on one side. The gap between the Ganga and the Fulahar is gradually decreasing. Just a couple of years ago, the distance between these rivers was around 2 kilometres, now it has shrunk to a mere 800 metres.

The rivers look calm at the moment, but the soft soil remains vulnerable to erosion. Dhananjay Mandal, a longtime resident of this area, recalls the river’s transformation, “When my grandfather was around, the river was much smaller. However, since 2018, the Bhutni side of the riverbank has been eroding rapidly. We’re losing our land, but the question is, where can we go?”

Constant losses

Official data on land erosion in Malda district reveals significant losses along the Ganga, with approximately 14,335 hectares wiped out from the left bank between 1931 and 1978 and an additional 4,247 hectares eroded from 1979 to 2004. The constant shift of the Ganga’s course poses a yearly threat to a large chunk of land, with a substantial amount of it, totalling over 200 square kilometres, being lost due to bank erosion, impacting both the left and right banks of the river.

People live here in constant fear of losing their houses, made of thatch, mud, and bamboo. Many of them have been forced to move several times. When the monsoon season comes, they leave their homes on the banks and find safety in mainland areas. After the monsoon ends, they come back to these homes.

 “The farmers and villagers in the area do not want to leave despite the crisis because the alluvial soil here is very fertile for cultivation. Just plow the land, and crops will grow without any fertilizer. However, the current crisis is unprecedented. The government needs to declare river erosion in this area as a national disaster and take action,” says farmer activist Biswanath Ghosh.

Measures taken, root cause ignored

“This area will be flooded again during the monsoon. We fear the worst, that it would be swallowed by the river. The sandbags meant for protecting the riverbank are not effective,” adds Rajesh Mahato, a resident of the area. 

Sneha Mondal was a child when she moved to the shelter at the local Birnagar School. She pointed to her one-time home in the middle of the river. “You see the water, that where our house was located. The house, trees, shops – everything is gone. You can now see the crack in our shelter now – I don’t know where I will go now.”

River experts highlight the Farakka Barrage’s role in contributing to the destructive effects of Ganga erosion. Constructed in 1971 with the objective of redirecting water into the Bhagirathi-Hoogly River to improve Kolkata Port’s navigability, the dam has, however, caused substantial alterations to the Ganges’ course, leading to erosion along the riverbanks. More than a hundred mouzas have submerged, affecting around 15 lakh people in two districts who face annual movements due to the recurring challenges.

Impact on workers

Ongoing displacement along the riverbank has led to a surge in the number of slums, resulting in an exceptionally high population density. The disappearance of agricultural lands has not only resulted in a scarcity of arable land but also displaced people from their primary economic activities. Census reports indicate a decline in the proportion of main workers within the rural workforce, coupled with an increase in the proportion of marginal workers. Many families have migrated to cities like Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kerala, engaging in daily wage labour. Alarmingly, erosion has adversely affected infrastructure, and the overall male literacy rate in these affected areas has decreased over the years, emphasising the extensive challenges faced by these communities.

“The Farakka authority should distribute the 2,200 bighas of land under their control among these landless people,” states local labour activist Debajyoti Sinha. 

“You see the light there – once, there was a school. I taught there for 18 years. There used to be three polling stations, everything was washed away. But when a new land rises, the government claims the right of that land,” says local teacher Pranab Mondal.

The Union government’s flagship programme Namami Gange has a budget outlay of Rs 22,500 crore from 2023 to 2026 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga. The state government has repeatedly accused the Union government of not releasing the funds required for river bank management. 

Malda Uttar Bharatiya Janata Party MP Khagen Murmu said the state government was trying to pass the buck. “I raised this issue in the parliament. The state government is not sincere in controlling the issue. They don’t even attend meetings. But here, they blame the Centre for non-allocation of funds, instead of elaborating on what they have done to tackle erosion or flash floods so far.” 

Reflecting the locals’ despair, retired teacher Abdul Bari in Malda sums up, “One day, I wish to take myself and my family to a place far far away – neither government nor nature can chase us.”

Translated from the Bengali original by Aparna Bhattacharya.