Landslides in hills, Ganga swells, monsoon across North Bengal ravages trees, homes

The rainfall also led to a rise in water levels of rivers like the Ganga which in turn, has started eroding chunks of land in Malda district

Erosion at Golap Mandal Para village in Kaliachak-III block of Malda on Friday. Picture by Soumya De Sarkar

Bireswar Banerjee, Soumya De Sarkar, TT, Malda, Siliguri,  03.08.24:  The monsoon rain since Thursday night across north Bengal and Sikkim has caused fresh landslides, uprooted trees, blocked roads and damaged houses in different locations of the hills.

The rainfall also led to a rise in water levels of rivers like the Ganga which in turn, has started eroding chunks of land in Malda district. The administration has shifted some families to safer places.

The rainfall led to landslides at 28th Mile and 29th Mile on NH-10, the principal highway that connects Sikkim and Kalimpong with Siliguri and the rest of the country. The state PWD took the task to remove the debris from the highway and could restore traffic movement around 1pm on Friday. The road has been closed since Thursday because of the landslides.

Sources in the Darjeeling district administration said because of the rain, at least 20 houses were damaged in different parts of the hills. A house was damaged at Ambotia in Kurseong and the Nirankari Bhawan in Darjeeling near the additional district magistrate’s bungalow after trees fell on the structures.

Also, the traffic movement stopped for nearly five hours on NH-110 — the highway connecting Darjeeling — as a tree fell near Saint Mary’s. It was cleared around 5pm.

A source in the district disaster management office of Darjeeling said similar reports of house damages came from areas like Rangli Dara of Rangli Rangliot block, Beechgaon of Sukhiapokhri block, the Mirik block and some areas under Darjeeling and Kurseong municipality.

The power supply was also disrupted in different parts of the hills.

In Malda, the Ganga has started eroding land in the Kaliachak-III block and has damaged some houses.

According to a source, Golap Mandal Para of Pardewanpur-Shobhapur gram panchayat, located around 40km from Malda, is the worst-affected area.

Malda district magistrate Nitin Singhania said: “We have sent a team from the state irrigation department to carry out protection measures. They have been asked to perform palliative works to check the erosion.”

He said the administration received an instruction from the chief minister’s office to take all necessary measures for the affected villagers.

Arnab Mondal, an assistant engineer of the state irrigation department, said a stretch of around 125 metres of the village was completely eroded by the Ganga on Friday.

“Also, a section of palliative work carried out two years back was also damaged. We are carrying out restoration work in the affected area,” he said.

Sabina Yasmin, an MLA from Malda and the minister of state for irrigation, said the administration has been asked to provide food and other relief materials to the affected families, most of whom have shifted to safer places.

So far, 13 families have been shifted from the spot to a relief camp. A community kitchen has also been opened for them.

A few days back, chief minister Mamata Banerjee was vocal against the Centre for not providing funds for anti-erosion works, while referring to the Centre’s plan to renew the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty with Bangladesh.

The Farakka Barrage Project Authority has also curtailed its area of operation on both banks of the river, which are in Malda and Murshidabad districts, and carries out anti-erosion works in a smaller stretch of the river, she had alleged.