‘The water came in and within 30 minutes engulfed the whole area giving us just enough time to save our lives. Just like in an awful nightmare, our houses and whatever we had were under water. And today, I am living like a refugee in my own town,’ narrated one of the flood stricken victims of Lakhimpur.
‘It happens every year. The water comes and ruins our lives. Every year we move away, but every year the water comes to us, as if it has made up its mind never to let us live in peace.’
‘The hydel project that is going on was supposed to be a boon for us, but it has turned into a curse. Every year, whenever the water increases on their side---they release water into the already raging rivers and it causes massive floods. Even before the project started, they were warned that their efforts might lead to an increase in floods down the river. But all those advice and protestations fell into deaf ears. Now although some of their own people admit their dreadful mistake, publicly they maintain a strong stance of modernization. This time though they have claimed that they had informed the district administration, but it seems the district administration simply ignored it. But even if they had heeded, what could they have done? Is it possible to remove such a huge populace and their belongings in short notice? What’s the use of progress if it harms people instead of benefiting them?’
‘Nature itself never causes all these problems; it’s all human follies. So many trees have been cut down, and it has led to massive soil erosion; and deposition of this soil in the river has made the river bed rise; and hence, when it rains a little-- the river overflows and floods.’
‘Simple things can change the scenario—the hydel project should be stopped for the time being and its environmental impacts should be studied. They should investigate measures to ensure that they do not release water to the rivers and hence cause floods. They should develop a plan and release the water where it won’t impact the populace and at least work with the government and local administration to stop this kind of destruction.’
‘Can’t we do something to clean up the riverbed, thus ensure that the river does not overflow after a mere rainfall? It is not an impossible task, most of these rivers almost dry up during the winters and the soil can be removed from the riverbed. This soil can be used for agricultural purposes as it is very fertile.’
‘Why don’t we build dams at the right locations? These can provide us with electricity and also ensure that the surrounding areas are not flooded.’
‘These ideas are ripe and are floating around, but nobody seems to care. After all, floods also mean money for the politicians who control all the purse strings. Half of the relief money that comes for the people disappears. But we don’t care about that. What we need is to work out something that can prevent the river from coming to us every summer. Why can’t anybody do anything to stop these floods from killing us and destroying us all over---every year?’
Author’s Note: The idea of bringing up this lamentation of anguish by a flood victim is to highlight the need for a symposium or a discussion forum to find ways to defeat the floods that cripple the lives of our people back home—without fail every year. Even a small step can bring miracles to the lives of many.
By Kaushik Phukan
Seattle
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