Riverside stories

When the river launched its attack, people began pulling down their houses in the hope of saving their bricks. 8216;8216;It was not wise to wait for river to come and run over us. So we tried to salvage whatever little we could,8217;8217; says a villager.

Japsi Mukhiya, who belongs to the fishermen Malla community was owner of one bigha of land. Now he8217;s landless and fishing is his only source of income. Sheikh Isu Mian8217;s fall, was from higher and more painful 8212;he had 13 bighas of land. The river is steadily washing away his land and Mian fears he and his five sons will be on the road next monsoon. Or his children will migrate to other states like many others. Those who are left behind generally become daily labourers sometimes earning as little as Rs 12.

Besides Champaran, Saran, Buxar, Bhopjpur, Patna, Vaishali, Siwan and Gopalganj are other districts severely affected by flood, says Ram Bhajan Singh of the Bihar Flood, Drought and Erosion Affected People8217;s Group.

8216;8216;Until 2003, the government did not even have a policy on this issue of rehabilitation,8217;8217; he says. It was only recently that the government said the displaced would be rehabilitated. People of Champaran8217;s Bishwamdharpur village that was washed away in 1977, are still doing the rounds of government offices for a piece of land. In Singh8217;s Nakta Diera in Patna District, 6,000 acres out of the 11,000 acres have been lost to the Ganga and 4,000 families displaced over the last 20 years.

West Champaran District Magistrate Vinay Kumar says the people affected by erosion will get priority in government land allotments. The government policy counts the affected people among the landless and queue them up for housing aids like Indira Awas Yojana.

In cases where the river recedes, the land returned is supposed to go to the original owner. And the land given by the government as compensation will become state property again. But actually this never happens. Instead of the government, the land passes into the hands of a few powerful men. In fact, several gun battles for land take place between gangs that thrive on small islands called dieras.

But there is a way out of this hopelessness while the rivers can8217;t be tamed, they can be managed. According to Singh the course of rivers can be scientifically managed by building embankments. In Patna, a concrete embankment on the Ganga prevents it from flooding the city. In the case of Jirwa too the Champaran embankment built during the British times had been protecting the village until it gave away three years ago. A technical committee of the state irrigation departments is now examining the feasibility of building another one.

But people are running out of patience. The mukhiya of Jirwa panchayat, Shandal Gaddi says the only help the government has offered them so far has been Rs 200 and 50 kg of grain.

The river and the government has not left the villagers with much.