Encroachments led to flooding in Surat and Bharuch, says memo sent to Gujarat CM

Speaking to The Indian Express, Shaikh said, “The recent floods in Olpad and Hansot are man-made. Earlier when both talukas received heavy rainfall, there was no flood.” Now, the encroachments had forced the river and creek into bottlenecks, which prevented excess water from draining into the sea, he explained.

The Kim river originates on the Gujarat-Maharashtra border in the Jankhvav and Kim villages in Surat district, from where it splits into two. One part of the river flows through Hansot taluka in Bharuch district, while the other flows through Olpad taluka in Surat before both meet the sea. The Sena creek starts in Kosamba in Surat district and also drains into the sea.

In his memorandum to the chief minister, Shaikh spoke about the misery of thousands of people having had to be shifted out of Olpad and Hansot as swelling Kim river had flooded villages in the talukas. The Sena creek also overflowed into Olpad town and nearby villages. He wrote about the monetary loss faced by residents and how the local administration had been on their toes trying to deal with the crisis for three days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He pointed out in the memorandum that there were many illegal shrimp ponds on the banks of the Kim river and Sena creek, which had led to the bottle-necking of the river and creek in Olpad and Hansot.

The obstructions in the way of the river’s path had prevented the water from flowing out in accordance with the tides and had resulted in flooding, he said.

Shaikh said that an estimated 80 per cent of the Kim river’s banks had been encroached, while 90 per cent of land adjoining the Sena creek had also been encroached. At some places, the Sena creek has only 60-metre width, while its floodplain ranges between 500 metre and two km. The Kim river has narrowed down to below 100 metres due to the encroachments, the memorandum said.

The NGO also submitted satellite images of the encroachments by salt pans and shrimp ponds on the Sena creek, and demanded they be demolished and legal action taken against those running them. A high-level committee should be formed and a study conducted to ensure that those who had leased land from the government for shrimp farms have not encroached land illegally, the memorandum said, adding that such leases should be terminated if encroachments are found on the floodplains.