Dibyendu Sinha, MP, 5 July 2024, Jalpaiguri: Around 50 to 60 houses have been submerged in the erosion of the Teesta River basin, leaving hundreds homeless. Approximately 500 bighas of agricultural land, including a primary school and an ICDS centre, have been engulfed by the river.
This incident occurred in the Bahir Char area of Jalpaiguri Sadar Block, within the Bowalmari Nandan Pur Gram Panchayat area. According to local sources, river erosion began last week but intensified significantly over the past two days.
The issue has been reported to the local Gram Panchayat and block administration. Mihir Karmakar, BDO of Sadar Block, stated that authorities are investigating the matter. Meanwhile, the District Flood Control has issued a yellow alert for the unprotected area of Teesta in Jalpaiguri Domhani and a red alert for the unprotected area in Mekhliganj.
Jalpaiguri Sadar Block encompasses several basin areas along the Teesta River. Among them, Bahir Char, situated alongside Teesta in the Boalmari Nandanpur Gram Panchayat area, is the largest. This char, measuring 8-km-long and 4-km-wide, is home to 260 families with a population exceeding 2,000.
While the river’s water level rises every monsoon, recent years have seen exacerbated erosion issues. Last year, 2,000 bighas of land was lost to river erosion, a situation repeated this year.
Local resident Charan Mandal reported that his house and 20 bighas of land were lost to erosion on Thursday, with Sadhan Sarkar experiencing a similar loss of 15 bighas of land. Most of the damage occurred in the Dhar Para, Kanai Nagar and Kalampur areas.
Jiten Chandra Biswas, local Panchayat member, lamented: “The Char area previously housed the only primary school in Kalampur.
On Friday morning, the school was swept into the river, leaving the future uncertain for 50 students. The ICDS centre adjacent to the school suffered the same fate. Residents have demanded a protective ring dam to mitigate river erosion, but no action has been taken yet. If this situation persists, conditions will worsen in the days ahead.”
Meanwhile, the Sikkim Meteorological department has issued a red alert for five districts in North Bengal. Gopinath Raha, a department official, warned:
“These districts are likely to experience heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours, tapering off by Sunday.”
The Jalpaiguri district Irrigation department’s Flood Control reported periodic releases of water from the Gajoldoba Teesta Barrage, with 3,010 cumec water released on Friday afternoon.
https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/teesta-river-erosion-leaves-hundreds-displaced-570747