Erosion triggers panic in Balijan; locals perform riverbank rituals for protection
The people are apprehensive of being displaced; losing livelihood.
The affected people of the area organized a special community puja on the banks of the river.
Dibrugarh, June 12: Amidst the sizzling heat spell, the flood and erosion-affected people at Chabua’s Balijan area have turned to the river deities to protect them from being devoured by the mighty Brahmaputra even as anti-erosion works got underway in the area.
The severe erosion has swallowed a significant portion of Garudharia village and Balijan tea estate along the river. The erosion has affected the tea plantations and has now posed a serious threat to the garden’s tea factory. The plantation workers have been gripped by fear and anxiety. They are apprehensive of being displaced; losing livelihood and the houses allotted to them by the garden management.
The affected people of the area organized a special community puja on the banks of the river, invoking the river goddesses to protect their land and properties. They also offered sacrifice to the deities. Sukram Bakti, one of the organizers of the puja, said that the people are going through a traumatic experience due to the fear of being displaced.
“Considering the gravity of the situation, the local community here proposed to invoke the river goddesses for help. We therefore organized a community puja and offered sacrifice, pleading to the river deities to redirect the course of the river causing erosion and flood in the area. If the river flow is directed to the centre of the river, we believe our fear of losing land, properties, livelihoods or getting displaced will be dispelled,” said Bakti.
Chironjit Kondpan, president of the Chabua regional committee of Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA) told The Assam Tribune that the garden lost nearly 30 bighas of tea bushes in the erosion and the threat still persists as the embankment in the area has been washed away. “It is astonishing that Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, whose native village is just a few miles away, has not visited the area. If anti-erosion measures are not taken, the garden is destined to lose its tea factory and workers’ houses,” he said.
Chabua MLA Ponakan Baruah, who paid a visit to the erosion-prone areas of Balijan on Wednesday evening, said that the scale of river erosion in the area is alarmingly. “Land measuring at least 1100 metres in length and some 60 metres in breadth has been eroded by the Brahmaputra in the last few days. I have updated the State Water Resources Minister from the spot about the situation here. Meanwhile, anti-erosion measures are underway. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and the State Water Resources Minister are expected to visit the area on Friday,” he said.
In the morning hours, Lahowal MLA Binod Hazarika was also in the area to gather first-hand information about the situation.