Heavy erosion by the Dhansiri river within Golaghat district under Morongi Revenue Circle, has caused widespread devastation, damaging dwelling houses and properties mainly at Mitha Chapari, Panka areas where 140 families have been affected. The residents of the areas informed that the government and the district administration had done nothing for the protection of the people. Given the circumstances, local people had to erect stone spurs as a measure against erosion by the Dhansiri river.

bURDWAN : Further collapse of the Ganga riverbank has sparked off panic among the residents of Jahdanga and Tamaghata villages in Purbasthali area near Kalna. Twenty eight families so far have been shifted to safer places by the Kalna administration.

State irrigation minister, Mr Subhas Naskar, today said that repair works of breached or damaged embankments are getting delayed in East and West Midnapore owing to non-availability of earth and lack of proper technology. Mr Naskar was making a statement on the recent floods in East and West Midnapore in the state Assembly.

The bank of the Ganga in Manikchak where the river is gobbling up the land. Malda : Over 30 families in six villages of Manikchak lost their homes today as the Ganga and the Phulhar touched the danger level, prompting the Malda district authorities to raise the yellow alert. The two rivers meet in Manikchak, around 40km from Malda. Erosion has also begun in the Bhutni island, located between the rivers.

TAMLUK: Irrigation engineers have run into trouble while attempting to repair the breached river embankments in the flood-affected areas of Midnapore East district due to the non-availability of soil. The flood conditions at a few blocks in this district continue to remain grim because of this.

The flood and erosion by the Brahmaputra has posed a major threat to the northern part of the Kaziranga National Park (KNP). About 40 sq km of the 430 sq km area of the Park has been affected. According to satellite survey, about 37.40 sq km have been gobbled up by the mighty river. The Arimona forest beat office was set up in 1951 in Kohora range. The office conducts the patrolling of the forest personnel. A luxurious guest house was also constructed near the beat office.

The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past.

In the hill areas, the traditional systems of dependence on forest products like fuel for their households and fodder for their livestock has an important bearing on the status of Himalayan watersheds. The population of livestock is therefore also significant. The fuel and fodder requirements of the hill people are important routine activities for which women/children spend long hours of their day-to-day life.

DIBRUGARH, June 30

With swelling of rain-fed Padma and Someshwari rivers in Chapainawabganj and Netrakona districts, hundreds of people have become homeless in a couple of days. Vast areas of cropland and a number of establishments including educational institutions are facing threats due to the erosion. Erosion has taken a serious turn along the banks of Someshwari River in bordering Durgapur upazila in Netrakona district due to sudden swelling of the river during the last three days due to torrential rain and rolling down of water from hilly areas in India.

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