RIVER EROSION

Erosion fear grips villagers in Dinhata

As the monsoon closes by the rural residents especially who reside near rivers have been suffering from river erosion. Those who lost their homesteads and farmlands last year now fear of a fresh disaster.

In Dinhata, the residents of the villages like Notafela, Salmara, Adabari, Daribash, Jaridharla and Gitaldaha are silent witnesses of the erosion that took away their ancestral homesteads and cultivable lands in previous years. The Kaljani played havoc in the areas adjacent to its banks. It gobbled up huge areas of farmland. The Singimari too did similar disaster. The villagers are still can remember those fearful days.

It was learnt that the Kaljani grabbed about 1,000-bigha of tilling fields at Salmara, Notafela and other villages under Nazirhat-II gram panchayat in the past years. These areas are now known as erosion prone areas.

The Dharala and the Singimari too have played havoc at villages of Gosanimari-I, Gosanimari-II, Gitaldaha-I, Gitaldaha-II and Okrabari under Dinhata-I Panchayat Samilty area. Though dry in winter the small rivers like Baniadaha and Bura-Dharla turns dangerous during the monsoon inflated by heavy rainwater.

During the monsoon months the riverside residents can never sleep in peace. Many of them have to shift to safe shelters to the residences of relatives at other villages. During the monsoon when the situation worsens it is common to almost all political parties to raise demand for a master plan to save the villagers from river erosion and annual floods. But, soon after the monsoon those demands and promises just evaporate. The ensuing monsoon may also coming to stage the similar skit.