Wahidur Rahman

Pankaj Das

Photographs

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Editor

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“When the waters rise, our soul trembles,” says
Hareswar Das. A resident of Bagribari in Assam, he says the village must always
be on guard during the monsoon months when rising water levels in the nearby
Puthimari river can devastate their homes and crops.

“We have to pack our clothes and be ready when it
rains. Last time the floods destroyed both kutccha houses. New walls
with bamboo and clay were raised again,” adds his wife, Sabitri Das.

Nirada Das says, “I put the [now damaged] TV in a sack
and placed it on the roof.” The last television was also ruined by previous floods.

It was the night of June 16, 2023, and the rain was
relentless. Residents used sandbags to repair a section of the embankment which
had collapsed last year. Two days passed and the rain showed no signs of
stopping. Bagribari and its neighbouring villages including Dhepargaon, Madoikata, Niz
Kaurbaha, Khandikar, Bihapara and Lahapara, were on guard, fearing that the weakest segment
of the embankment would be breached again. 

Luckily, four days later the rain slowed, and the
water also receded. 

“When the embankment breaks it seems like a water
bomb. It ravages everything in its way,” explains Hareswar Das who is a local
teacher. Now retired, the 85-year-old taught Assamese in K. B. Deulkuchi Higher
Secondary School. 

He is of the firm view that the embankment
constructed in 1965 has actually done more harm than good, “drowning instead
of rejuvenating croplands.”

Bagribari lies on the banks of the Puthimari river,
which is 50 kilometres away from the annually flooding Brahmaputra. In the
monsoon months, villagers spend sleepless nights in fear of rising water
levels. Young members of the village stay awake all night during June, July and
August here in <a href="http://baksa.assam.gov.in/about-us/detail/about-baksa">Baksa district, </a>monitoring the water at the
embankment. “We spend five months a year fighting floods or living with the
fear of floods,” adds Hareswar. 

Jogamaya Das, a resident of the village points out
that “The embankment has been collapsing at the same place almost every other
monsoon for the past several decades.”

Which is probably why Hirakjyoti, Atul Das&#39;s son, has recently joined the Unarmed Branch of the Assam police as a constable. He has lost confidence in the construction and repairing of the embankment. 

“The embankment is like Xunor koni pora haah
[The duck that lays
golden eggs],” he says. “Every time it collapses, parties and organisations
arrive. The contractor builds the embankment. But it collapses again in the
flood.” When the youth of the locality demand better repairs, says the
53-year-old, “they are threatened by the police them and forced them to stay
silent.” 

The fields, roads, and houses of Bagribari speak
of the suffering of the people. And it does not seem as though it will end
anytime soon. A 2015<a href="https://iwai.nic.in/sites/default/files/2536979333NW-82%20Final%20FSR%20Puthimari%20River.pdf"> report</a> of the Inland Waterways Authority of
India on the hydrographic survey of Puthimari river concluded that “embankment
construction and repairing seems like permanent affair.

In 2022, Jogamaya Das and her
husband Shambhuram had to cling to their windows for over eight hours when
their house was flooded. That night, when the water reached their neck, the
couple left their kuccha house and made their way next-door to the new
house they were building under the<a href="https://transformingindia.mygov.in/scheme/pradhan-mantri-awas-yojana-gramin/"> Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana</a> (PMAY). Water had flooded this pucca
house as well and the windows were their last hope for survival. 

“It was a nightmare,” says
Jogamaya, shadows of that dark night still visible on her face. 

Standing now at the door of
their flood-ravaged house, Jogamaya, who is around 40, recalls her experiences
of the night of June 16, 2022. “My man [husband] repeatedly assured me that the
water will recede, the embankment won&#39;t break. I was scared, but I fell asleep.
Suddenly, I woke up startled by an insect bite and found that the bed was
almost floating,” she says.

The couple, who belong to the
Koch-Rajbonshi community like most other residents of the village, live about
200 meters from the main northern bank of Puthimari, a tributary of
Brahmaputra. 

“I couldn&#39;t see anything in the
dark,” says Jogamaya, describing their ordeal. “We managed to get to the
window. There have been floods before, but I have never seen so much water in
my life. I could feel insects and snakes lurking near me. I was looking at my
man and holding on to the window frame as tightly as I could,” she adds. With
the arrival of the rescue team, they were finally saved at 11:00 a.m. from the
ordeal which had begun at 2:45 a.m.

Exhausted by annual expenses for rebuilding homes,
villagers are unwilling to repair their houses ravaged after the floods and
this year&#39;s incessant rainfall. Several families are now living on the
embankment in makeshift tents, having lost their homes to the flood or too
scared to go back. 

Madhabi Das, 42 and her husband
Dandeswar Das, 53 had managed to repair their house which had been damaged in
the last flood. But they cannot live there in peace. “When the water rose, we
came up to the embankment. I don&#39;t want to take a risk this time,” Madhabi
says.

For those living on the
embankment, finding water to drink is a major problem. Madhabi says that after
the floods, many of the tube wells were buried under the sand. Showing us a
bucket full of empty plastic bottles, she says, “There is a lot of iron in the
water. We filter the water near the tube wells and carry it to the embankment
in buckets and bottles.” 

“There is no point in farming or
building houses here. Floods take everything away again and again”, says Atul’s
wife Nirada Das. “We bought a TV twice. Both were damaged by the floods,” she
says, leaning against a bamboo post in their baranda.

The main occupation of the residents of
Bagribari, which has a population of 739 (Census
2011),
was farming. But that has changed because of the floods and the sand that the
water leaves behind, making the land impossible to cultivate.

“Our fathers came here in the
hope of more farming land.” says Hareswar, who moved with his parents as a
young boy from Guiya village in the district of Kamrup. The family settled on
the upper side of the river in Bagribari. “There was very little population in
this lush green area. They [adults] cut down the shrubs and cleared the land
and got as much land as they wanted to cultivate. But now, we cannot farm even
though we have land,” he points out.

Last year (2022), Hareswar had already sown the
paddy seeds and was about to transplant them in the field when the flood came.
Eight bighas (around 2.6 acres) of his farmland went under water and the
saplings rotted in the field before they could be transplanted. 

“This time too, I sowed some
seeds, but the rising water destroyed everything. I won’t farm anymore,”
Hareswar says with a sigh. Incessant<a href="https://asdma.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/swf_utility_folder/departments/asdma_revenue_uneecopscloud_com_oid_70/this_comm/as_2023_22_06_1800_report.pdf"> rain</a> in June this year has damaged their kitchen
garden, destroying chilli, spiny gourd and other plants.

Among the many families who have
had to quit farming is the family of Samindra Das. “We used to have 10 bigha
[3.3 acres] of farmland. There is no sign of that field today, it has been
buried in thick layers of sand,” Samindra says. “This time, due to heavy
rainfall, water was leaking from the embankment just behind our house,” adds
the 53-year-old. “As the water in the river rose, we went back to the tent [a makeshift shelter made of bamboo
posts and a tarpaulin].”

Jogamaya and Shambhuram’s family
used to own three bighas (roughly an acre) of farmland where they mainly
cultivated paddy and occasionally mustard. Jogamaya recalls that at the time of
her wedding 22 years ago, this village, 50 kilometres from Guwahati, was a lush
cropland. Now, there are only mounds of sand.

When the land became a desert,
Shambhuram had to quit farming and find other work. Like many others in
Bagribari, he became a daily wage labourer. Now he earns around Rs. 350 per day
doing odd jobs in neighbouring villages. “He loved to farm,” says Jogamaya.

But work is always not available.
Jogamaya is a domestic worker and earns around Rs.100–150 a day. Once upon a
time, she used to work in the fields transplanting paddy seedlings. Sometimes,
she would also work on someone else’s land for some extra cash. Besides
farming, Jogamaya is also adept at weaving. She owns her own loom, weaving gamusa
(hand-woven towel) and chador (wrapper worn by Assamese women) which
was also a source of income. 

With cultivation no longer a
viable option, she had become more dependent on the loom. But the river has
played spoilsport again. “I was weaving on adhiya [on the agreement
giving the owner half the total produce] until last year,” says Jogamaya, “But only
that handloom frame remains. The flood has taken away spools, bobbins,
everything.’’ 

With the scarcity of work and uncertainty of
income, says Jogamaya, it has become very difficult to support their son’s education
– Rajib, 15, is a student of Class 10 at Kaur
Baha Navamilan High School. Last year, right before this incident, his parents
had sent him to a relative’s house near the embankment. The couple also have
two daughters – Dhritimani and Nitumani. Both are married and live in
Katanipara and Kendukona respectively.

Frequent floods and<a href="https://asdma.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/swf_utility_folder/departments/asdma_revenue_uneecopscloud_com_oid_70/this_comm/as_2023_22_06_1800_report.pdf"> inundation</a> by the Puthimari river have left Atul Das&#39;s family
disoriented. “I planted bananas on 3.5 bighas [1.1 acres] and lemons on
one bigha [0.33 acres] of land. On one bigha, I planted pumpkins
and white gourds. This time the river water rose and all the crops were
destroyed,” Atul says. After a few weeks, two-thirds of the crops were revived.

According to Atul, many
villagers have had to give up farming as a result of poor road connectivity.
For those who want to sell their produce, the journey to the markets have
become near-impossible due to the collapse of the embankment which damages the
roads. 

“I used to take our produce to
Rangia and Guwahati,” says Atul. “There was a time when I loaded a van with our
farm produce like bananas and lemon at night. Early next morning, at around
5:00 a.m, I would reach and sell the crop at the Fancy Bazar in Guwahati and
arrive home by eight o&#39;clock in the morning the same day.” But this has become
impossible after the last flood. 

“I also used to ferry my produce
by boat to Dhulabari. But what can I say! The embankment has collapsed several
times since 2001. After the 2022 flood, it took five months to repair,” Atul
adds. 

“The floods have destroyed us
all,” rues Atul’s mother Prabhabala Das, recalling the chaos caused by the
collapsing of the embankment.

However, as we climb the embankment to take our
leave, her son smiles at us. “Last time too you came when there was a flood.
Visit us on a good day,” he says, “I will send you vegetables from our farm.”

In Bagribari: the river takes it all

بگری باری: جہاں ندی سب کچھ بہا لے جاتی ہے

బగొరీబారీలో సమస్తాన్నీ మింగేస్తోన్న నది

எல்லாவற்றையும் அடித்து செல்லும் ஆறு

ਬਾਗਰੀਬਾੜੀ: ਹੜ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਮਾਰ, ਆਖ਼ਿਰ ਕਦੋਂ ਤੱਕ...

ନଈ ବଢ଼ି ପାଇଁ ସର୍ବହରା ବଗ୍ରିବାରୀବାସୀ

ബുഗോരിബാരിയിൽ എല്ലാം പുഴയെടുക്കുന്നു

ಬಗರೀಬಾರಿ: ಬದುಕು ನದಿಪಾಲು

बगरीबारी: जहां नदी सबकुछ लील जाती है

બગરીબારીમાં: નદી બધુંય તાણી જાય છે

जम्मो ला लिलत बगरीबारी नदिया

‘टीवी के बोरा में कस के छज्जा पर चढ़ा देले बानी’

বগরিবাড়ি: নদীর করাল গ্রাসে অসহায় গ্রাম

বানত সৰ্বস্বান্ত বগৰীবাৰী: শংকা আৰু অনিশ্চয়তাত জীৱন যাপন

Bagribari

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In Bagribari: the river takes it all

The annual monsoon flooding of the Puthimari river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, is a constant source of anxiety for those who live on its banks. Flood waters destroy farmland, standing crops and even looms, leaving many residents with no option but wage labour. Expensive embankments don't help

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