Flood fury in Bengal, Malda suffers maximum brunt
Kaliachak II, Harishchandrapur II and Ratua I are the worst affected areas as already 550 houses have submerged and 4 lives have been claimed by the catastrophe.
In Short
- Malda under risk as water level rises above danger mark.
- Over 50 villages washed away due to floods.
- 4 lives have been claimed by the catastrophe.
For the past three days Malda has been under constant risk as water level of the adjacent rivers has risen above extreme danger level causing floods and erosion.
4 DEAD, 550 HOUSES SUBMERGED
Kaliachak II, Harishchandrapur II and Ratua I are the worst affected areas as already 550 houses have submerged and 4 lives have been claimed by the catastrophe. More than fifty villages have been washed away by flood along with erosion hitting hard on those areas.
Erosion has become a regular phenomenon along the 2 km stretch of the villages adjacent to river Ganga. Sarkartala village under Kaliachak II block has already been inundated with Munnatola and Chinabazar villages also facing the wrath of mother Ganga. Locals explain that the villages were destroyed within an hour of the flood and erosion.
RIVERS FLOWING ABOVE DANGER MARK
Though several gates of Farakka Barrage have been opened owing to Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the water level of Ganga, Mahananda and Fulahar rivers are still above extreme danger level, posing a threat to the affected areas.
River Ganga too is flowing at 25.34 meter above the ground level crossing the extreme danger level of 25.300 meters. River Fulahar is also flowing at 26.08 meters above the ground level, flooding its banks.
SCHOOLS, RAILWAY STATIONS TRANSFORMED INTO SHELTERS
Till now more than 20,000 people have been compelled to seek shelter at various rehabilitation centers organised by the government, NGOs and other people of the district.
Several primary schools and railway stations have also been transformed to provide temporary shelter and food to the homeless.
The evacuation process is underway as several villagers are still trapped inside their houses. NDRF has been working round the clock to provide food and relief materials to the villagers.
West Midnapore also faced the fury of nature as erosion and consistent inundation has damaged more than 5 lakh hector of cropland along with the mud houses in the district. The locals alleged that the extreme siltation on the banks of the perennial rivers is the major cause for the flood in the entire district of Malda. The barrage which was primarily created to de-silt river Hooghly ended up silting Ganga causing massive flood on the banks of the river.
"From the beginning, the Farakka Bridge is not getting the essential dredging and thus the sand is getting accumulated here. The problem with this is that floods occur and our homes get drowned and our crops also get damaged," said Kobad Ali, one of the villagers.
LOCALS AGITATED WITH AUTHORITIES
Though rescue operations are being carried out by the government, the locals are agitated by the carelessness on the authorities' part. The residents of the already submerged areas alleged that though erosion has been recurrent in those areas for the last two years, the authorities paid no heed to it. Though Farakka Barrage Project (FBP) authorities, district and block administrations were separately intimidated, as per the locals, all turned a deaf ear to their woes. The locals allege that anti-erosion work which was scheduled to begin in summer was taken up during the monsoons.
"We're deprived of basic aids and thus we are facing a lot of problems owing to the continuous overflow of the river. The cattle is also facing problem due to the flashflood situation," said Rukaya Bibi, one of the victims.
North Bengal Development Minister, Rabindranath Ghosh, did not leave this opportunity to blame the government for the negligence, stating that the preventive work was supposed to be taken by the Central government but nothing has been done on this front.
"Our officers have been kept on standby to curb the flood disasters and are continuously keeping track of the rising water levels. We are keeping a track of the three main rivers - Ganga, Phulhar and Mahananda and checking the rising water levels every three hours," said Subhadeep Dutta, Sub-Divisional Officer of Malda Irrigation Department.
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