Endangered

Guwahati, Jan. 2: Twenty endangered villages of Majuli have decided to devise their own anti-erosion project, disillusioned by the government’s false promises and ineffectual schemes.

About a thousand villagers will fill gunny bags with sand and dump them along the bank of the Brahmaputra to prevent the river from swallowing their homes.

A committee was formed recently to work out the anti-erosion plan, with the satradhikar (priest) of Bhogpur satra, Duttadevo Goswami, as the adviser.

Work is expected to begin within a few days, said Goswami.

The villagers will first identify the areas which are in imminent danger of being washed away. “We are also busy collecting gunny bags, which will then be filled up with sand,” said the priest.

The ambitious drive will be launched with a three-day religious festival on the bank of the river.

Though the villagers are not sure whether the sandbag project will ever succeed, “what else could be done when the authorities are turning a blind eye to the issue?” asked the satradhikar.

The decision to initiate the anti-erosion project on their own was, in fact, taken to embarrass the state and Union governments which have been “cheating the islanders with false promises”.

The villagers alleged that the Brahmaputra Board, which has been working on the island, has completely failed to control erosion and the Union and the state governments have shown little real interest.

Goswami said the chief minister had recently assured the villagers that necessary steps would be taken to save the island but nothing has come of it as yet.

Two years ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured a delegation of satradhikars from the island that he would visit Majuli to take stock of the situation. He, too, failed to keep his promise.

“We have totally lost faith in the authorities,” Goswami said.

Bhogpur satra, Goswami said, is less than half a kilometre from the Brahmaputra and several villages in the vicinity have already been swallowed by the river in the last few years.

Asked if the project to be launched by the villagers would be successful in controlling the Red River, the satradhikar said the project will begin with a religious festival. “The Almighty is with us. We think we can stop the river,” he said.

The All Assam Students Association (AASU), which has been raising its voice against the government’s failure to protect the island from flood and erosion, has supported the villagers’ decision to work on their own.

The Jorhat district president of AASU, Biren Saikia, said the students would also provide necessary help to the villagers in their endeavour.