CED documentation is for educative purposes-for your reference and study only E25 The Hindu, Chennai, 24 Feb 2008 Stranded in the Sunderbans

RINA MUKHERJI Rising sea levels and subsequent loss of land are contributing to increasing the number of environmental refugees in the Sunderbans.

ife on the remote inhabited islands Patharpratima is one of the few ma- of the Indian Sundarbans is far re- jor islands with power. The block head- moved from the world of glitzy quarters is located here. There are 15 shopping malls, flyovers, jet-set- grampanchayats that operate under its Lting middle classes and highflying life aegis. Of these, four are on the main- that India Shining has come to be ex- land, while the rest are on the various emplified by. In fact, the basic amen- islands in and around Patharpratima. ities of life are yet to be available for the Yet, not all of them are equipped with inhabitants of these islands. Yet, poor- primary health centres. Brajaballahpur est on these islands are paying the price , G Plot and Digambarpur (on the main- of global warming and rising sea levels land) have primary health centres as more than 10,000 environmental (PHC). But Achintyapur, another large refugees struggle for survival here. island, does not. Achintyapur is con- Power has just come to G Plot and nected with Patharpratima by regular Sagar though electricity is available on- ferries that ply every 45 minutes. But ly for a few hours after dusk. Transport the southernmost point of Achintya- within the islands is by van-rickshaw. pur, K Plot, has just two ferries — one in Because it is the venue of the Ganga the morning and one in the evening to Sagar Mela, Sagar is comparatively bet- connect it with Patharpratima island. ter endowed with larger vessels cater- Agriculture and fishing are the only two ing to its connectivity with the outside occupations of the people on these is- world. But where G Plot is concerned, lands. Life and livelihoods are totally in the block headquarters on Patharprati- keeping with the vagaries of nature. ma island are a full three hours away by And yet, these densely populated is- motor boat. In Sagar, vessels do not lands are losing 70-100 bighas of land move back to the mainland beyond late annually to pay for the sins of the well- afternoon, since the tide changes direc- heeled in India and abroad. POSSIBLE WAY OUT: A mangrove nursery in the Sunderbans. PHOTO: AFP tion. Erosion started around these parts some 35 years ago, according to 86- without a home. They are generally de- Das is an old widow who lost 10 bighas "It depends on one's political connec- regeneration of mangrove belts to pre- Grim scenario year-old Ratan Mondol, an ex-resident pendent on fishing, and comparatively in Gobardhanpur. Her eldest son fell tions," grumbles Anima Patra. vent the sea from swallowing up the Health services are next to nil. Even and farmer from Ghoramara. Since better off than the other migrants. But victim to an undiagnosed fever, and the To be fair to the authorities, relief land? "There is no land left for man- where a Block Primary Health Centre then, most of Ghoramara has been given the dynamic nature of the ecosys- younger son abandoned the family for and rehabilitation are difficult to guar- grove regeneration. Whatever land (BPHC) is present, which is akin to a swallowed up by the swirling seas. tem, the rising sea level and the subsid- better prospects. Her elder daughter- antee, with land in the southern fringes could be utilised, is being run over by 30-bed hospital, the government stip- Right now, only a small strip of this ence encountered, there is hardly much in-law, two grand-daughters and she breaking off in chunks in tandem with the sea." ulation of two general practitioners and once-huge island remains. The major hope for any community here. try hard to survive by begging and doing the rising seas . Besides, another 50-60 Perhaps, the government could pro- two doctors is never met. Only general migration occurred 14 years ago, when menial jobs now. Sachindra Patra and acres will be lost with a huge NABARD- mote salinity-resistant paddy varieties practitioners man the BPHCs. Out of nearly all the fertile land on the island Vastly reduced in size his three brothers lost nine bighas in funded brick embankment being built in these parts, so that land overrun by the two doctors, only one is present at and homes were swallowed up. Ratan The same is the case with G Plot, Gobardhanpur 23 years ago. "Ours was by the state irrigation department to saline water would not be rendered to- any given time, since each attends the Mondol and his family moved to nearby which is now reduced to one fourth its among the first to be gobbled up by the stem the erosion being wrought by the tally infertile. Saline-resistant indige- hospital for just three days or so in a Sagar, where they were given one and a original size. A part of Patharpratima rising sea", says Patra. Although he has sea and adjoining rivers on the south- nous varieties are so resilient that they week. As per a survey conducted by the half bighas of land, a pond and a home block, G Plot originally comprised nine managed to buy some two bighas since ernmost parts. This is also intended to can be cultivated in comparatively high Rina Mukherji TS1-D NGR1 Human Development Centre under the under Indira Awas Yojana by the au- villages — Gobardhanpur, Sitarampur, then, he and his brothers have to work prevent saline sea waters entering pad- saline soils, as agricultural scientist Dr. The Hindu aegis of the West Bengal Voluntary Budobudir Tat, Indrapur, Sattadaspur, as labourers in other farms to make Anupam Paul points out. But, the go- 24/02/2008 thorities. Mondol and his family have dy fields and rendering them unfit for Life on the remote inhabited islands Health Association (WBVHA), of the 65 been growing paddy on the land, and north and south Surendraganj. But ends meet. In the cases cited above, the cultivation, as happened last year. vernment has yet to promote such pad- of the Indian Sundarbans is far removed from the world of glitzy shopping malls, flyovers, jet-set- sub-centres operating here, which were eking out a living. However, Sagar itself some 10-12 years ago, Gobardhanpur government has given 1.5 bighas per dy in these parts. ting middle classes and highflying life that India to be manned by Auxiliary Nurse cum family on which to build houses. Would it work? Shining has come to be exemplified by. In fact, has been experiencing rapid erosion was entirely swallowed up by the sea. Most significantly, it is imperative the basic amenities of life are yet to be available for Midwives (ANMs), 15 lack ANMs. In over the last few years, with 100 bighas The southern part of Sitarampur has Rabin Burman and his wife gaze list- However, Panchayat Samiti Chair- that communities and elected Pan- the inhabitants of these islands. Yet, poorest on these islands are paying the price of global warming the absence of regular power supply, disappearing annually into the sea. "I disappeared, while the northern part is lessly at the waters of the Bay of Bengal. man Haripada Samanta is not too opti- chayat representatives are involved and rising sea levels as more than 10,000 environmental and hence a cold chain to preserve vac- refugees struggle for survival here. do not know how long Sagar and people slowly getting swallowed up as the land Memories are all that are left of their mistic of the newly-erected with scientists in formulating a multi- E25 cines, most children remain un-immu- gets eroded by the onslaught of the sea. house and land in south Sitarampur embankments holding out for more pronged strategy by the authorities to 27/02/2008 like us will survive," Mondol exclaims. PG nised, as Attiar Rahman and Dilip Das, Further down the same road is another Anima and Ashwini Patra owned 16 lost 15 years ago. None of the Sitaram- than four years. "Embankments have combat the disastrous effects of global coordinators working with the Human colony of refugees who moved in from bighas of land in Gobardhanpur. When pur residents has received any of the been continually built along the sea, but warming and rising sea levels in the Development Centre, tell me. Small Lohachhara, which the sea gobbled up the sea swallowed up their lands, they government's largesse, unlike the ma- they are easily breached by the surging Sundarbans. Or else, we may be hur- wonder then, that maternal and infant in 1982, along with an uninhabited is- had to move north. But now, the family jority of the Gobardhanpur refugees. waters. The only places where they tling down an abyss of no return, with mortality rates are very high in these land, Bedford/ Suparibhanga. Each ref- of eight must make do by fishing and Some have been given Below Poverty work are where mangroves protect the the numbers of those displaced sur- parts. ugee here was given five bighas of land, doing menial jobs in the fields. Surabala Line (BPL) cards, but many have not. land." In that case, would he not suggest passing our worst nightmares.