North Bengal reels under flood scare

SILIGURI: While the onset of monsoon has kept the rest of India in a state of rejoice, there's dark cloud on the foothills of Sikkim Himalayan range with floods looming close.

A fear of isolation has gripped large swathes of land in districts like Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling with the water level in rivers rising steadily. Experts blame it on the reduced water retention capacity of rivers because of siltation.

Rain in this area traditionally surpasses the national average.Between June 1 and 29, sub-Himalayan West Bengal received 17% more than normal rainfall, while at the pan-India level, rainfall was 12% below normal. Between June 23 and 29, when rainfall touched normal level in the country, North Bengal received 32% above normal rainfall.

“Heavy rainfall along with siltation in rivers is resulting in the inundation. At many places, riverbeds are rising at a rate of 25 cm per year,“ said environment acti vist Amol Dutta.

“We all know that felling of trees and unplanned urbanisation are leading to erosion of top soil and also increasing the frequency of land slides in the region. Worse, stones and debris from construction sites in the areas find their way into the rivers. During floods, these get deposited on the banks, rendering the land sterile,“ said senior geologist Subir Sarkar.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed concern over the problem but there's no plan as of now to either pre-empt a worse disaster or fight the menace.