There was a time when Mohan Yadav’s family was self-sufficient. The family, that lived on the banks of the Gandak river in Bariyarpur village of Nautan administrative block in Paschim Champaran, seldom visited the market.
On his five bigha (two acres) fertile land, Mohan – who has four young children – used to grow a little of everything, including rice, wheat, sugarcane, pulses and vegetables.
Things changed in 2009 when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone for a 1.92 km bridge on Gandak river. The CM promised the bridge would drastically cut down travel time between Pashchim Champaran and Gopalganj districts, and bring prosperity to the underdeveloped northern areas of the state.
The infrastructure project, which includes a bridge and its elevated approach roads – 3 km towards Gopalganj and 12 km towards Bettiah (district headquarter of Pashchim Champaran) – was built at a cost of Rs 54.8 million and inaugurated last March.
It has turned the fertile agricultural land of Bariyarpur village into barren wasteland covered with a thick layer of sand.
Mohan now works as a daily wager in Chandigarh. Three of his younger brothers have also migrated with him.
The Gandak flows from Nepal in the north to enter Pashchim Champaran in Bihar. It flows southward forming a natural boundary between the districts of Paschim Champaran to its east and Gopalganj to its west.
It is bound by embankments on both the sides — the east embankment at Mangalpur in Pashchim Champaran and the west embankment at Bishunpur in Gopalganj. Bariyarpur village is located inside both the embankments, right next to the river.
“The distance between east and west embankments is about 12-15 km and this entire area belongs to the river, as during the monsoon the river swells and its water spreads far and wide,” Adya Prasad Yadav, a resident of Bariyarpur, told VillageSquare.in.
While the embankments restrict the horizontal flow of the Gandak, its vertical flow was obstructed with the construction of the elevated approach roads on the riverbed.
Yadav said that during construction, Gandak exerted so much pressure on the elevated road that in 2013-14, another small bridge was carved out to avoid a breach in the road.
The elevated road cuts right across Bariyarpur village, dividing it into two parts – one on the north of the road and the other to the south. Houses in the north are caught between the Gandak and the elevated road, with no channel to drain out the river water. For the houses in the south, the elevated road acts as an embankment and diverts the river.
“I borrowed some money from family friends and took a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from a moneylender at seven percent interest rate to buy land across the elevated road. I have already lost my land. I cannot afford to lose my children to the floods,” says Mohan, whose family now lives on 1.5 katha land on the other side of the elevated road.
Like Mohan, Ramakant Yadav has also relocated to the safer side of the elevated road.
Mohan says he feels lucky to have purchased land when it was still Rs 90,000 per katha.
Adya Prasad, however, says that he cannot afford to move.
Adya Prasad is not alone. Seven other families continue to live in the north part of Bariyarpur. More than 60 families have already begged, borrowed and relocated. Villagers like Ramesh Yadav are yet to receive Rs 2 lakh compensation towards their house that was flattened to make way for the elevated road.
The villagers of Bariyarpur have also lost their livelihoods as the farmlands are covered with sand.
Adya Prasad used to grow sugarcane on his 5 bighas. However, they are now full of sand.
The loss of livelihood has forced the residents to migrate. Young men from almost all the households of Bariyarpur migrate to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi or Chandigarh to work as daily wagers.
“As against Rs 100 a day, I earn Rs 300 per day in Chandigarh,” says Mohan, who has to repay a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Lokesh Kumar, the district magistrate of Pashchim Champaran, acknowledges the problem of sand deposition and flooding in the northern part of Bariyarpur.
Bariyarpur may be facing issues but other villages downstream are happy as the elevated road acts as an embankment, allowing them to reap the benefits of both kharif and rabi crops, he adds.
Prasad disagrees. The short-sightedness of the project-connectivity has installed a false sense of security amidst the village downstream of the road link, which can lead to disastrous consequences, he says.
Kumar accepts that the elevated road blocks the flow of Gandak, which, if breached, can lead to mayhem in the downstream areas.
(Nidhi Jamwal is a journalist based in Mumbai. This article has been published in an arrangement with VillageSquare.in)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)