In Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, the Ghaghara river is wreaking havoc on the Diara region, where residents of Gopal Nagar Tadi village are being forced to tear down their own homes with their bare hands and flee, as the river's swollen current keeps swallowing the settlement bit by bit. Diara areas are low-lying river-side tracts that face erosion and flooding almost every year, but this time locals say the situation is worse than ever.
Dozens of homes lost to the river
Rapid erosion has already pulled dozens of houses in the village into the Ghaghara river. Several families have been left completely homeless and are wandering in search of safe shelter. A stretch of the village roughly 3 kilometres long has now turned into nothing but river water, where homes once stood. Villagers said that just behind the spot where conversations were taking place stood a house that looked as though it could collapse into the river at any moment.
Villagers allege corruption in anti-erosion work
Residents allege that the work carried out to check the erosion was marked by serious negligence and corruption. They say that if the budget sanctioned for anti-erosion measures had been spent honestly, the erosion might have been stopped by now. According to villagers, the administration is still fast asleep even as heart-wrenching videos from the village keep going viral, with no official visiting the spot to assess the situation.
"Leaders only show up for photographs," villagers say
Villager Pappu Kumar said the erosion is continuous and extremely fast, and that no one is willing to listen to the villagers' suffering. He said Gopal Nagar Tadi is a Yadav-majority village, and both its MLA and MP belong to the Samajwadi Party, yet neither has come forward to help. According to Pappu Kumar, on the rare occasion the MLA does visit, he only gets a good photograph clicked and leaves. He claimed more than 50 houses have been swallowed by the Ghaghara this time.
Atul Choubey, who visited the village to see the situation, said elected representatives should at least come and understand the people's hardship. He said conversations with villagers made it clear that neither the MLA nor the MP had shown up so far.
Tehsil gives villagers only a 10-day assurance
Villager Vakil Kumar Yadav said the settlement is entirely a Yadav locality, represented by Samajwadi Party MLA Jayaprakash Anchal, who according to him also visits only to get photographed. Vakil Kumar Yadav said the worried villagers went to the tehsil office seeking help, where they were given only an assurance that some action would follow within 10 days.
Four years of erosion, 400 to 500 homes already lost
Villager Jitendra Kumar Yadav said the erosion shows no sign of stopping and has been going on continuously for about 4 years. He said the Ghaghara has swept away around 50 to 60 houses this year alone, while roughly 400 to 500 houses have been lost to the river in previous years. Jitendra Kumar Yadav said that if the erosion continues at this pace, the village's very existence could be wiped out this time.
Living under tarpaulin sheets in the open
Families whose homes have been washed away by the Ghaghara are now forced to live under tarpaulin sheets pitched along the roadside. Villagers say they have received no concrete help from the administration so far. They are demanding immediate relief and permanent protective measures from the administration to save the remaining homes and families from the river's fury.
