A life eroded in Samserganj

The people of the Samserganj region in Murshidabad face a bleak future as the river Ganga continues to ruin their homes and hopes.

Baijayanti Mandal and her son at the entrance of what used to be their house in Samserganj.   | Photo Credit:  Jayanta Shaw

Rani Mandal of Natun Shibpur village in Samserganj block, Murshidabad district, had gone to take a bath in the river, when she noticed it swirling menacingly. She had been living in the region long enough to know what that foretold, and she rushed back to her home by the waterfront, but it was already too late. A video shot by a neighbour showed her house being swallowed by the river—like a mythical monster devouring its prey. It all happened so fast that Rani just about managed to drag her bed to safety; everything else she owned went into the river.

On July 29, the erosion of the riverbank by the Ganga in the Samserganj region swept away at least 10 houses, rendering more than 60 people destitute. Since 2020, the people of Samserganj have been living in terror of the river, which has been changing its course and claiming hundreds of houses, orchards, and farmlands that fall in its way. This time, the toll was comparatively less, people said. “There have been times when more than a hundred dwellings were lost to the river in one fell swoop,” they claimed.

Sitting with her grandchildren amid the ruins of her son’s house that stood just behind her home that was washed away by the river, Radharani Singha felt forsaken by both fortune and the government. “I am old and ailing. I cannot earn as much as I could earlier from binding beedis. We have no idea what to do with ourselves now,” she said.

It all happened so quickly that she could barely save any of her belongings. Her son’s family was not at home at that time, so she had to break open the door, but there was little that she could do before the river took most of their belongings as well. Two days after the erosion, she claimed her family received no assistance from the administration. “We were not even given a tirpal [canvas sheet], and it is raining. Where do they expect us to live?” she said.

Rani Mandal where her house once stood. | Photo Credit:  Jayanta Shaw

Her daughter-in-law Lakshmi Singha said that their house was constructed just two years ago, and they had not yet repaid the loan they took for it. The tragedy has triggered a burst of resentment against the government and the administration. “We are now on the streets with small children, without shelter, without food. The government should do something for us. They just come during elections asking for votes. Why have they not come now? It would have been better if we were also taken by the river,” she said.

The majority of the people in the affected area are extremely poor and dependent on the beedi industry. The majority of the men are migrant workers, and most of the women are engaged in binding beedis, which earns them a meagre Rs.178 for every 1,000 units. Their poverty makes their plight particularly poignant.

Radharani with her grandchildren in the broken house of her son. | Photo Credit:  Jayanta Shaw

According to Meena Mandal, it was only five years ago that she finally managed to save enough money to build a pucca house. Before that, she and her extended family resided in a mud shack with a tiled roof. “The men were all out at work when the house went down. We could save nothing, and we have nowhere to go,” she said.

Sudden blow of fate

It is the same story all around, and the same bewildered expression on the faces of those who have lost everything they ever owned in one sudden blow of fate. Standing at the front entrance of her home—which was all that the river left behind—Baijayanti Mandal stared out into the water in whose depths her home and belongings now lay. “Nothing was saved. I could just leave with my child and my mother. We are all just squatting on the road now. So far [August 1] nobody has provided us with any place to stay. I am feeding my child puffed rice and biscuits,” she said.

Most of the victims claimed that they are living however they can—on the kindness and charity of neighbours and in the nearby mango and lychee orchards. The situation gets worse at night. With no electricity or shelter, those living in the open deal with the intermittent rain, the heat, the menace of mosquitoes, hunger, and a feeling of hopelessness exacerbated by the darkness. The Block Development Officer of Samserganj, Sujit Chandra Lodh, maintained that the administration was doing everything within its power to provide relief to the affected people.

A feeling of panic pervaded the area. Several people in the region who were spared by the river this time were tearing their homes down brick by brick. They were doing this to save the bricks, even though they have no idea when and where they will be able to rebuild again.

Biren Singh, a resident, pointed out that it was just a matter of time before his house too would be taken by the river, now practically at his door.   | Photo Credit:  Jayanta Shaw

Biren Singh, 61, pointed out that it was just a matter of time before his house too would be taken by the river, now practically at his door. “I spent a fortune building this house, now I am forced to break it down. I have not yet decided what to do. For four years this region has been ravaged by the river, and the government has done nothing for us,” he said.

In this poverty-stricken region, most people have invested their life’s savings in building their homes. With the cost of bricks at Rs.10,500 per 1,000, it makes sense to preserve them for later use. It is as though the people have reconciled themselves to the inevitable tragedy that is going to befall them. “Destruction is just one swoop away,” said Manoj Sardar, whose home stood just two houses behind the river line. “This has been my family’s house for the last 60 years; now we are tearing it down so that the river cannot take everything away.”

According to Lodh, with the Ganga changing its course, a stretch of around 18 km in and around the Samserganj area is facing the threat of riverbank erosion. “Essentially, the river is coming back to its earlier course. Years ago, when it had shifted its course from here, people settled down because of the richness of the soil; now, they are threatened by the river as it is changing its course yet again,” said Lodh.

Apurba Mandal, 28, who lost his house to the river in 2021, remembers that five years ago the river was around 2 km from his house before it began to get closer and started claiming one neighbourhood and one village after another. “We lost our house in 2021. Initially, those who lost their land got assistance, but after that no one came to our aid,” he said.

Abdur Rezzak was once a propertied man with around 26 bighas (one bigha is 0.619 acre) of land, including orchards and agricultural land. Since 2020, Rezzak has lost his land bit by bit to the river, and now he is left with only a house. “Between 2020 and 2024, I lost every bit of land my family owned. We are now reduced to somehow making ends meet,” said Rezzak.

The remains of the houses destroyed by river erosion hanging over the waters.   | Photo Credit:  Jayanta Shaw

Kalyan Rudra, a renowned expert on rivers, pointed out that the Ganga oscillates within its “meander belt”, leaves its old course and also returns to a former course. “This is characteristic of the river in the Delta. There are two kinds of river erosion: during the rising stage of the hydrograph in the rainy season and during the falling stage of the hydrograph around October, when a strong, invisible groundwater water flow goes back into the river causing a void underground, which may result in the vertical collapse of houses,” Rudra told Frontline. He pointed out that following the migration after Partition, unplanned development of settlements close to the river has “changed the magnitude of the problem”.

There is little the people of Samserganj can do about it; in fact, there is little the government can do about it either, apart from providing relief and rehabilitation. The people believe that putting boulders could be a permanent solution to curb the advance of the river, but according to Rudra that would only be a stopgap measure, as the Ganga is too powerful a river to be contained in this way.

Highlights

• There is little the people of Samserganj can do about it; in fact, there is little the government can do about it either, apart from providing relief and rehabilitation.
• Kalyan Rudra, a renowned expert on rivers, pointed out that the Ganga oscillates within its “meander belt”, leaves its old course and also returns to a former course.
• He pointed out that following the migration after Partition, unplanned development of settlements close to the river has “changed the magnitude of the problem”.

An inevitable tragedy

Many of the residents of the region now spend their nights on the banks, observing how the river is behaving, so they can evacuate well in time.

Standing on the bank, around 100 metres from his house, the elderly Alauddin Sheikh said: “There is no sleep for us any more…The danger is that if the erosion takes place at night, it will catch us unawares. My neighbours are breaking their houses; I have not started doing that yet, but I know I will have to. This situation is just breaking our hearts.”

Even in the face of tragedy, however, there was a scene of macabre festivity around the disaster site. With the approach of evening, people from the surrounding villages arrived in bikes and cycles with their friends and partners to sit on the banks and watch the parts of destroyed houses that still hung precariously over the waters. A murmur of excitement rose up every time a chunk fell in. The disaster tourism site’s festive atmosphere was complete with ice cream vendors, tea sellers, and food stalls. Amid the sound of merriment and people taking videos and pictures on their phones, there were men and women who stood quietly watching the waters, their eyes dull in recognition of the inevitable tragedy the river promised.