Incessant rainfall over the past fortnight, triggered by successive depressions over the Bay of Bengal, has led to the overflowing of the Ichhamati river and its tributaries, including the Jamuna and Padma canals, submerging several areas of Baduria in North 24-Parganas.
With the entire region waterlogged, daily life has come to a grinding halt. Roads are under waist-deep water, making vehicular movement impossible and forcing residents to ferry patients to hospitals on boats or even makeshift banana rafts during emergencies.
Local people have been demanding immediate dredging of the Ichhamati and its tributaries, warning that without urgent riverbed desiltation and long-overdue reforms, the area risks remaining submerged throughout the year.
The crisis began in the first week of July when the first phase of relentless rainfall struck. Several villages in Chatra gram panchayat, such as Mirzapur, Pabia, Kotalberia, Rosui and Potapara, were quickly waterlogged, bringing everyday life to a standstill. Riverwater, having breached the banks, inundated not just roads and farmlands but also homes, shops, schools and other establishments. Croplands remain submerged.
“Waterlogging is not a new problem for us. But this year, it has been raining unusually for a long time. At the same time, irrational development and illegal construction are blocking drains and waterbodies in some areas. The saturation of the Ichhamati and its tributaries, like the Jamuna and the Padma, because of sedimentation has made things go beyond control,” said one villager.
Another resident, Rabiul Mistry, said: “We are completely trapped at home because of waterlogging. It is a helpless situation, and we are living with snakes and frogs. Attending daily chores or earning a living has become impossible.”
Anwar Mondal, another resident of the affected area, said: “Villagers have appealed to the district administration and other authorities to help us get rid of this situation. But no relief seems imminent. They all said that without dredging the riverbed of the Ichhamati, the situation won’t improve. I’ve heard that work has begun, but nobody knows when it will end or when we will get any respite.”
Experts and residents alike point out that over the years, unchecked siltation drastically reduced the carrying capacity of the Ichhamati and its distributaries, making the region increasingly vulnerable to flooding during the monsoon. Unless regular dredging and waterway management are implemented, such flood-like situations are likely to recur with greater frequency.
Aslamuddin, panchayat chief of Chatra, attributed the worsening flood-like conditions to sedimentation and the saturation of the Ichhamati riverbed.
“It is a long-pending problem, and I am hopeful normalcy will be restored soon,” he said. He admitted that the scale of the waterlogging had become alarming.
An official of the irrigation department said: “We are trying to complete the work as early as possible to ensure a permanent solution to the waterlogging problem.”