Soil erosion in the Ganges in Panchanandapur area under Kaliachak II block has rendered thousands of people homeless during the last two decades. Most of these homeless people have also lost their voter identity cards and other important documents along with other belongings to the floods. So, at present they are not only homeless, they are bereft of their basic rights as Indian and state citizens. Many of them have applied for their names to be included in the voter list for Hamirpur Char with the District Electoral Officer of Malda.
The raging river has gobbled up a large portion of once buzzing Hamirpur. The land had surfaced about three decades back and people started moving to the 'Char' in large numbers in the hope of tilling the fertile land. The increased agricultural activities and digging of ponds resulted in the river invading the land soon and by mid-1990s the entire isle had been drowned.
Sanjoy Basak, an executive body member of the Ganga Bhangon Protirodh Action Nagarik Committee (GBPANC) says, “People live in an endless nightmare in Panchanandapur and adjoining areas including Bhutnir Char. There is neither a school around, nor a health centre.”
Panchanandapur is adjoining to Jharkhand. While the river eats into one side, the land comes up on the other bank. Those displaced have settled there to save their lives, but cannot claim their rights as the state is not bothered about the happenings. Also, Jharkhand lays claims on the reclaimed piece of land. In this way, West Bengal has been losing large chunks of its land to Jharkhand, Bihar and Bangladesh every year. Kedarnath Mandal, vice-president of GBPANC, says, “The river has taken our voter ID cards with our belongings. Now, neither WB nor Jharkhand accepts us as its citizens.”
Even the part of the land resurfaced on West Bengal side is being snatched away from the raiyats by the state government. According to Sub section 12 of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955, if submerged land is back in 20 years, the ownership would remain intact. But the Act has been amended to: “Any land gained by gradual accession to a holding, whether from the recess of a river or of the sea, shall vest in the State Government and the raiyat who owns the holding shall not be entitled to retain such land. as an accretion thereto.”
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