Byline: Deepa Philipps
India
Climate
change is as real as it gets on the Ghoramara Island which is slowly eroding
into the depths of the Bay of Bengal, reports Deepa Philip
 |
uncertainty greets the future of women and children
|
Livelihood
of the islanders is also affected by the sinking land where betel nut
cultivation is the mainstay besides fishing and prawn seed collection. Green
houses made with nets tied around poles, serve as a hotbed for betel leaves
that wind their way through the net mesh.
The crops often drown in water while soil erosion adds to the misery. “If this continues, the land will become so barren by the time I grow up that I might have to move to my relative's place,” says Firoz.
The crops often drown in water while soil erosion adds to the misery. “If this continues, the land will become so barren by the time I grow up that I might have to move to my relative's place,” says Firoz.
Disappearing
island, weathering dreams
On
the clayey mound, two friends sit with their eyes on the waters. Rabindra Nath
Das and Ronojit Dolui have been fishing together all their lives. It was merely
26 years ago that they saw an adjacent island Lohachara disappear. “We used to
visit Lohachara for fishing and collecting wood,” Das tells TEHELKA. “We saw
the land slowly being eroded and then one fine day it fully submerged in the
waters.”
The
submergence had displaced over 374 inhabitants of Lohachara. Today, their own
homeland is under grave threat.
“Every
year the climate is changing and becoming worse,” says Dolui. The look on his
weathered face, betrays fear. “Na more beche acchi (we are barely living
from day-to-day),” he mutters. His friend sighs in approval, as he turns his
eyes back to the receding shoreline.
Villagers
are increasingly looking to the government for help. “We will stay for as long
as it is possible, if then the government intervenes, it is fine else we are
clueless about what we will do,” says Devi.
The
government on its part, had enrolled inhabitants to place boulders on the
western point of the island, where erosion was most intense. The huge boulders
enmeshed in black wires have been laid across the western shore by its port
body -- the Kolkata Port Trust, but the wages of the laborers are yet to be
cleared.
This
creates reluctance among them to take up more such initiatives of the
government. “The boulders have managed to stem the erosion, but we are yet to
receive pay for our toil,” says Khaidat Das, a laborer enrolled in the
government's anti-erosion drive. The boulders however, have been restricted to
the western tip alone, leaving the rest of the island unprotected. “It
[Ghormara] is not private property and so unless the government decides to
help, nothing can be done,” says Vishnu.
Stirring
hope
“It
has been 34 years in Ghoramara,” says Satyabrata Tripathi with a gleam in his
eye. He is a senior teacher in the only secondary government school in the
island. Originally hailing from Midnapore district in West Bengal, Tripathi's
first assignment was to teach in Ghoramara. Three years into his retirement, he
still hasn't left. How does one explain this attraction to a sinking island?
“All my relatives, my sons keep prodding me to leave the island, but I can
never bring myself to it, I am in love...” he says chortling.
The secondary school established in 1951, offered
education till class eight, from 1981, classes were extended up to the tenth
standard. Having an enrollment of 500 students, the school has produced many
doctors, engineers and teachers over the years. Literacy rates have
surprisingly been high in the island. According to the 2011 Census, literacy
rate of Ghoramara was 91.02 percent compared to 76.26 percent of West Bengal.
“But the dropout rates is sadly very high as students have to provide for their
families or assist their parents in fishing or cultivation,” he points out.
.... the story continues with the next post
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