Giving support to those actually in the water, hundreds of others, including women and children, have been sitting on the river bank.
For 19 days they have stood in knee deep water, unnoticed by the rest of the country and undeterred by foot sores and other infections. As the Gandak ebbs and flows around them, the villagers from Bihar's Kalamatihaniya panchayat, demanding a solution to the riverine erosion that has eaten away entire villages, have now decided to escalate their satyagraha and go on a hunger strike.
"Ours is a battle for survival," said a protester, amongst the group of 50 odd villagers, including several women, staging the unique diara (riverine area) protest about 200 km from Patna to save their homes and farms from the annual erosion of the Gandak river.
Giving support to those actually in the water, hundreds of others, including women and children, have been sitting on the river bank. Those in the water have developed foot infection, swelling and other diseases. A medical team led by the Gopalganj civil surgeon checked them on Monday evening.
The villagers, however, are determined to go through till their demands are met and have decided to stage a collective hunger strike. "If our demand is not met, we will sit on an indefinite fast starting Thursday," Anil Manjhi, convener of the Gandak Diara Sangharsh Samiti (GDSS) and one of the satyagrahis, told DNA over the phone.
They are demanding the construction of a guide dam and a pilot channel between Ahiraulidan in Uttar Pradesh and Mangalpur Mahasetu in Bihar to end their woes.
At least six villages of Kalamatihaniya panchayat in Gopalganj district have already been swallowed by the river and thousands of displaced people are still unsettled. The villagers claim that if the Gandak swells up this monsoon, several more villages, mostly in and around the riverine areas, will be washed away.
The diara residents came together under the banner of the GDSS to draw the government's attention to their plight and demand urgent anti-erosion measures. The Jal Samadhi Satyagraha started on February 17.
The water resources department of the Bihar government had sanctioned anti-erosion projects, including construction of a 20m wide pilot channel, worth Rs.12 crore in the area in December 2016. The deadline for completion of the work by the flood control division is May 15, 2017.
"However, the work is yet to commence. The district administration officials had met us when we launched our movement and assured us that the project will soon be seen on ground. But nothing has happened till date," Manjhi said.
Their demand seems to have been heard.
"I have talked to the chief engineer and tender is likely to be finalised by Wednesday after which work will commence," Gopalganj district magistrate Rahul Kumar told DNA.
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