Resentment among farmers who lost agriculture opportunities because of sand deposits in their fields with recurring floods over the years has become a stumbling block to political parties in the run-up to the November 1 Banka Lok Sabha bypoll.
The issue of sand deposition is also a major issue in the polls in the five Assembly constituencies scheduled for November 1.
Residents of the district have threatened to boycott the polls to protest against political parties, which have not bothered to do anything about the sand deposition. The sand deposit has caused large-scale ecological imbalance in the area. Bikash Choudhury, a resident of Domuhan village in Banka, said: “We will boycott the polls. Not a single political party has bothered to solve our problem.” Residents of Bhatoria, Jitpur, Singhnan, Baunia villages echoed him.
Farmers of Banka, Amarpur and Dhauraiya Assembly constituencies, are unable to cultivate acres of land as their fields are filled with sand deposited in their fields by recurring floods over the years. While a sizeable number of farmers have moved outside the state, others are struggling to earn their livelihood with daily wage earners.
Budhan Das, a resident of Singhnan village under Rajoun block, said: “I have 10 bighas of paddy fields. Everything was perfect before 1995. The first flood in 1995 and a series of floods after that completely damaged my fields.”
Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Banka, said: “The district has a peculiar phenomena. The floodwaters bring in sand deposit even from the small streams and tributaries. The deposit then covers the land like a thick carpet.”
“Our fields once yielded super quality of Katarni variety of paddy. But, today, after a carpet of sand has covered our land, we have to grow watermelons. Neither did we get any compensation nor did a single leader come here after the floods. It is only during elections that the political leaders come here,” said Pradeep Sinha, a farmer turned shopkeeper in Rajoun.
Another resident, Bisundeo Mandal of Bahicha village, said: “The affected people are still in agony. They remain clueless about how their land can be cleared of the sand carpet. The government and politicians does not do anything for the victims except for giving false promises.”
Ambika Prasad, a resident of Bisunpur in Amarpur block, narrated how the 1999 floods covered up his six cottahs of agriculture land with five feet sand. “I managed to scoop up the sand deposit with the help of my family members for about four months. However, again after the 2000 floods, my land was covered with sand. Since then the field is lying barren.”
The voters of the region further complain that none of the governments have taken any initiative to attend to the farmers’ plight. Manoj Kumar of Banka said: “Right from the government of Lalu Prasad to that of Nitish Kumar’s, nobody has taken any initiative to repair the damaged embankments of the rivers. They failed to arrange proper irrigation facilities and did not even listen to the farmers’ plight.”
Union water resource minister Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, who is contesting from the Banka Lok Sabha seat on a RJD ticket, lambasted the Nitish government for not attending to the problems of the farmers. Ram Narayan Mandal, former animal husbandry minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, said: “The problem of sand deposition is a very old issue in the district. The previous government did not take any step. Our government has at least repaired some embankments and roads which were damaged in the 1995 floods.” Mandal is contesting the Banka Assembly seat this year. Independent candidate from Banka, Putul Singh, the wife of former MP late Digvijay Singh, admitted the farmers’ problems. “My husband had taken an initiative to find a solution to the problem of sand deposition. But, due to his sudden demise, it was not completed. Now, if people give me a chance, I will take up the issue and try to complete my husband’s unfinished task,” Putul told reporters.
The people of the district allege that the state government have further drained the agricultural fields to generate revenue. The government has focussed on extracting sand from the small rivers like Chandan, Cheer, Kurhar, Chanan along with other tributaries in the region. An official in the mining department confirmed this. He said: “This time, the government has given a tender to extract sand from the riverbeds for over Rs 2 crore in Banka.”
Villagers condemned the government’s action. They said that the government’s work of extracting the sand from the riverbeds has resulted in scarcity of water for irrigation use in summer. “The rivers of the district are generally dried up in summer. But, we used to extract water for cultivation. However, with this rampant digging of the riverbed water storage capacity of the rivers in summer have decreased,” said Subhash Chandra Singh of Banka.
Bivash Chandra Singh, a farmer in Banka, said: “This time, the farmers have to face huge loss because of the extraction of sand. Vegetables and garma dhan (summer paddy) have completely damaged because of drought. The dried rivers failed to provide any water for cultivation to the fields. The government has damaged the prospect of the farmers for only Rs 2 crore’s income.”
