Since 1950, the Brahmaputra has eroded more than 4.27 hectares of lakh, or 7.4% of Assam’s land
Guwahati:
The Brahmaputra River turned Prafulla Saharia, 51, into a refugee. In 2007, he eroded his Malhu village, his house and 70 bighas of farmland. Erosion has since forced him to move three times. The day laborer now fears that the village of Lengeribori, where it is now located, will be swallowed up by the swollen Brahmaputra overnight.
“This place where we are now sheltered will also be eroded for sure; we were faced with such a massive flood a few days ago, the government gave us only rice, dal and salt, nothing else. “Prafulla Saharia told GalacticGaming.
Flooding in Assam has receded somewhat, but residents in several parts of the state are now battling riverbank erosion. In Morigaon district, more than 4.5 lakh people have been affected by flooding this year. At the income circle of Bhuragaon de Morigaon, village after village are now on the verge of being engulfed by the Brahmaputra.
Saharia’s neighbor, Jamuna, cries inconsolably as she shows her home, first damaged by flooding, and now threatened by erosion. She wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help her.
“We hope that Prime Minister Modi will listen to our cries and help us. We continue to hear that flood erosion mitigation projects are going to start but nothing is seen on the ground. We need to. a permanent solution, ”said Jamuna Saharia.
Since 1950, the Brahmaputra River has eroded over 4.27 hectares of lakh, or 7.4% of Assam’s land area. The state loses nearly 8,000 hectares each year, the size of Goa.
“There is an acute land shortage; if someone loses land and if we have to rehabilitate it, it is difficult, ”said Chaitali Dutta.
In Bhuragaon, 57 of 122 villages have disappeared, with the Brahmaputra moving 11 km inland from its main channel. Across Assam, at least 880 villages have been eroded over the past 50 years.
Dutta added that in the north the Brahmaputra is 1 km away and in the west just half a km, but with the rising water level there is flooding in the area.
