Fresh erosion in the Brahmaputra riverine areas continues to hit Goalpara district in lower Assam.
These freshly hit areas are in the three Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs), Goalapara East, West Goalpara and Jaleswar.
Three sandbars of Baladmarisar in East Goalpara, Khankhowa sar and Solmari of West Goalpara and Takimari, Tarangapur, Chilarbhita, Haguripara and Sonalurtol of Jaleswar have been eroded.
In East Goalpara, from the middle of the October and upto this week of November, the local people have claimed that 80 bighas of land have been eroded at Baladmarisar.
Also read: River erosion posing threat to Goalpara town
“Yes, it is unbelievable, we are loosing our agricultural land at this pace,” said Abu Sama, a local resident and headmaster of the Balarbhita LP School in Baladmarisar.
“A scheme of porcupine worth Rs four crores was taken by the Water Resource department to protect Baladmarisar in 2018,” he added.
“But lack of quality works and corruption in some extent failed the project to serve its purpose,” he rued.
Significantly, a government survey carried out by the Revenue department and Disaster Management in the year 2016 showed that 3348 bighas of land eroded only of Baladmarisar under Matia revenue circle.
“About 1800 families, 900 in West Goalpara, 600 in East Goalpara and 300 families in Jaleswar have been displaced due to the continuous erosion in the district in last three years,” said Abdur Rafik, a local minority leader while talking to Northeast Now on Friday.
The picture of damage and destruction caused by the Brahmaputra is same in West Goalpara’s Khankhowa and Solmari.
“About eight villages have already been eroded in the river in last three years. This has snatched away shelter, bread and butter, of 900 families,” informed Rafik, a local.
On the other hand Sahabuddin Ahmed, MLA of Jaleswar informed on Friday, “My constituency is basically flood and erosion prone.”
“The concerned minister has allotted a sum of Rs 1.5 crore after his visit to protect erosion which is not sufficient,” he sad.
“I have used my local area development fund also in this regard,” he reiterated.
“But I have put demand through my question in the ongoing winter session of Assam Assembly to allocate more funds,” he added.