No move to save Mayachar from Rupnarayan

3 February 2012

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 3 FEB: Mayachar, one of the most erosion-prone islands in the district, is on the brink of destruction as the mighty Rupnarayan continues to wash away its banks.
For the past two decades, both the Left Front government and the present Trinamul Congress-led government have promised to devise sustainable ways to check river bank erosion, but thousands of islanders are still spending sleepless nights as the mighty Rupnarayan continues to gobble up homes. They can do nothing, but wait for doomsday.
The village, spread over 2 sq km, is on the district's border with Howrah. The river is wild here. Both banks are bereft of houses and have a thick screen of trees. Only the chimneys of brick kilns indicate the presence of human beings.
During the first part of the twentieth century, a large portion of Mayachar was under the Rupnarayan. The river gradually shifted to the northwest, though, and large tracts emerged from under water. Villagers still talk about a flood half a century ago that put the entire area under water.
Maybe that's why the people of Mayachar, which is in Amritberia gram panchayat in Mahisadal, want to forget that it is among the most threatened inhabited islands in the district. Maybe that's why erosion was not a poll issue on this island at least in the last Assembly election. The people of Mayachar would rather debate issues like land acquisition and industrialisation. Just before the last panchayat election, about 2,000 voters here were all supporters of the CPI-M. They later switched to the Trinamul Congress, though, hoping that if it came to power, their problems would at least be noticed.
Mr Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of the zilla parishad, said: “We submitted a project proposal worth Rs 1.5 crore for protection of the Rupnarayan bank at Mayachar a few months ago, but the district administration has delayed sanctioning the project ... The zilla parishad has limited funds for carrying out such development work, but in this situation, we have already spent Rs 12 lakh for this purpose."
The problem went from bad to worse in the past few months: 100 buildings, including a primary school, have already been washed away due to erosion.
Mr Madan Guchait, headmaster of the Mayachar high school, said: “A 90-foot stretch of land at Palpara and a 10-foot stretch near the Kheya ghat have been eroded by the river. About a 1.5-kilometre stretch along the Mayachar land is also under a threat of severe erosion and this land will be submerged in this monsoon if protection work is not taken up immediately."