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Civilisations have long thrived on river banks and the river basins have been their cradles. But whenever, human beings have tampered with nature and jeopardised riverine systems, civilisations have been threatened. Such a situation is looming ahead on account of the Farakka Barrage in the state of West Bengal in India and unless the government initiates steps to review the project, large tracts of land in Bihar and West Bengal will be inundated. This would naturally, lead to tremendous upheaval in the lives of several lakhs of people. The Farakka Barrage is one of the most debated river management projects though for reasons which have nothing to do with either environmental or demographic reasons. Built primarily to serve the twin purpose of regulating the amount of Ganga water to flow out from the Indian territory into Bangladesh (East Pakistan then); and to ensure that sufficient water is diverted to Hooghly river to enable the regular flushing of silt at Calcutta port, the Farakka Barrage has been more often mired in controversy as India and Bangladesh have disagreed over the share of Ganga water between the two countries. While in the recent past, some efforts have been made to resolve this contentious dispute between the two nations, no thought has been spared so far on the long term impact the barrage has already caused and continues to do on an ongoing basis. Though the Farakka Barrage was commissioned in 1975, work on the project had been going on for long. The structure of the Barrage was completed as early as 1971 but the feeder canal which diverts water to the Bhagirathi river (as the Hooghly is called at this point) was completed only in 1975. By this time however, the cost of the project had escalated and when it was finally completed, the Farakka Barrage cost the nation Rs. 156.49 crore. The cruel irony is that since its commissioning, the Farakka Barrage has cost the nation much more but leave alone calculating the total cost, barring a handful, no one is even willing to concede the fact that the Barrage has caused irreversible harm to environment and society. The Farakka Barrage was greatly modelled on the lines of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)- one of the first major riverine projects undertaken by the Central government under the influence of Nehruvian model. Both the DVC and the Bhakra project in the northern India were reflective of the government's viewpoint that river management projects in India needed to be modelled on western lines - with its emphasis on large dams. In fact, plans for the DVC had already been drawn up by the British before independence during Lord Wavel's tenure as Governor General. The entire project was modelled on the lines of the Tennessee Valley Authority of America and its chief engineer was actually appointed by the government gf Independent India as the Chief Administrator of the DVC. When the DVC was planned and work on its was initiated in the early 1950s, the government was lavish on its claims regarding the benefits from the project. For eastern India, the DVC was considered to be a panacea to several problems in areas of power, irrigation and flood control. But as experience later showed, the claims had been falsely made on all fronts: the DVC in fact, made more areas in West Bengal prone to flood than before; the project's utility in irrigation programmes was minimal; and the bulk of electricity generated in the region was from thermal power stations. Faulty Projections By the late 1950s evidence was mounting that the projections made by the planners of the DVC had got it all wrong. The greatest demerit in the DVC was the sharp decline in the discharge capacity of Damodar river: from a level of 50,000 cusecs in 1954, the figure touched abysmal level of 20,000 cusecs. By 1959, the depth of Calcutta port had declined considerably after the construction of the Maithon and Panchet dams. The discharge capacity of several other rivers in the region like Jalonshi, Churni, Mayurakshi, Ajal, and Roopnarayan also declined greatly and further contributed to the rising bed of the Hooghly. The situation slowly started reaching the point of no return and by the late 1950s, large ships stopped coming to Calcutta port and instead opted for Diamond Harbour. These facts were not hidden from the policy makers and planners when work on the Farakka Barrage was initiated. Yet, they chose to remain myopic and contended that the Barrage would flush out silt and mud from the Hooghly and thereby it would be possible to reclaim Calcutta port. What was ignored was the fact that till the DVC project had been initiated, the problem of Hooghly not getting desilted had never risen because of the nature and timing and force of the floods in the Damodar and Roopnarayan rivers. But, once various dams came up in the course of the DVC, these rivers lost their capacity to flush the Hooghly thereby jeopardising Calcutta port. The Farraka Barrage was thus intended to correct a wrong step. However, as events have proved, the step taken to correct a previous wrong move also turned out to be a faulty and unwise decision. However, it is not discordant notes were not sounded when the Farakka Barrage was initially planned: they were only not heeded. Kapil Bhattacharya, an engineer in West Bengal contended that the amount of water that could be diverted from the Farakka Barrage into the Bhagirathi, would not be sufficient to flush the Hooghly to the level that Calcutta could once again be used as a port. He also suggested that the DVC should be modified in a manner so that water from river Roopnarayan flows into the Hooghly which would ensure regular flushing of the river. Regarding the Farakka Barrage, Bhattacharya further said that the project would reduce the water carrying capacity of the Hooghly and thereby make more areas in West Bengal prone to floods. He had further cautioned that there would be heavy silt accumulation even in river Padma on the Bangladesh side of the border and this would further make areas on the right bank of Padma flood prone. Twenty two years after the Farakka Barrage was commissioned, the desired objective of the project has not been realised. Instead, the barrage has given rise to a host of other environmental and demographic problems which unless attended to urgently, would cause greater havoc in the region. Creating Problems at both Upstream and Downstream An alarming development has been the steady decline of the Ganga's depth. In 1975, when the barrage was commissioned, the depth of the river at the barrage was 75 feet. In March 1997 when I visited the area with some friends, we were shocked to find that the depth of the river was only 13 feet. In effect, this means that the bed of Ganga has risen by 62 feet in the past 22 years. This alarming development has led to untold misery to the people of Bihar as the level of the bed of all rivers has risen steadily - quite often to level higher that the land close to the banks of the rivers. As a result, thousands of Chaurs (lowlands) that previously used to remain flooded only during the monsoons, now remain submerged under water for as long as ten months. The problem of constant water logging not only leads to possibilities of the outbreak of infectious diseases, but also causes unfathomed economic and social miseries on the people in these regions. The Central Water Commission in its report in 1995 stated that in the three states of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two and a half acres of land in the proximity of the Ganga remains submerged under water for most of the year. Due to this the nature of the soil becomes alkaline and already lakhs of acres of once fertile land in Bihar have now turned totally barren. The fertility of the Gangetic plain is a cruel image of yesteryears. This problem is acute in large parts of Bihar as various other river management projects like the Kosh project and the Gandak project also suffer from the same problem of rising level of river beds. In many instances, back flow has also been reported. This is leading to large scale inundation in rural Bihar and lakhs of people are suffering on account of faulty river management programmes. While the problem of submergence as a result of the Farakka Barrage is acutely felt upstream of the barrage, the problem is one of being washed away downstream of the barrage. As the water discharged into the Bhagirathi and the Padma is devoid of any silt, the water tends to cut into the land more sharply than in the past. As a result the problem of soil erosion is being very acutely felt in villages and towns on the banks of the Bhagirathi. Estimated that in Murshidabad district alone, more than 600 square kilometres of fertile land has been swept away and more than 5 lakh people have been displaced in the past 22 years. Moreover, there are signs that the Ganga is trying to chalk a different course on account of the barrage and if the river does breach its embankments then devastation will be the only result due to the floods. Local people in West Bengal have already formed an organisation named 'Ganga Bhangan Pratirodh Samiti' to mobilise public opinion, but there has been no response from official quarters so far. Depletion of Fish Resources Besides water pollution, river management projects also wreak havoc among the fishes living in these waters. These projects adversely affect the fishes which are migratory in nature. Dams and barrages act as barriers in their migratory paths and several species have either already become extinct or are facing extinction as they breed in a particular type of water while inhabiting in a different sort. The Farakka barrage has over the years acted as a barrier to the migration of marine fishes leading to the near absence of several popular varieties in the entire northern India. As the waters of several rivers of northern states directly or indirectly flow into the Ganga, there is a similarity in the types of fishes found in the rivers. There are many fishes ( for instance prawn) that inhabit in fresh water but breed in marine water. Likewise, there are other species - like Hilsa - that inhabit in marine water, but have migrated upstream to breed. The Ganga once used to have plenty of Hilsas but this has changed as the fish is no longer able to breed leading to the near extinction of the Hilsas in the Ganga upstream of the Farakka Barrage. In fact, it is not just a question of Hilsa alone, but there has been a substantial drop in the fish population on the entire Ganga. Prior to the barrage, during monsoon, there used to be a very high population of eggs and spawns in this stretch of Ganga. After catering to the local needs (there is great demand for fish in Bihar and eastern UP) a substantial amount of eggs, prawns and different varieties of fishes used to sent to other states. Today barely about 25 per cent of the local demand is met by the fish caught in this stretch and for the rest, the people have to depend on fish caught in other states. According to Uday Kant Chaudhary, Chairman State Fisheries Development Board, Bihar's needs are no longer being met by the fish caught in the entire state and this has thrown open the market to multinational companies to come in and sell fish at exorbitant prices. Not only has the quality of the fish available in the state gone down, but they have also become substantially more expensive. It has been estimated that there has been an overall decline of 75 per cent in the entire population of fish upstream of the Farakka Barrage. Large fishes, once found in abundance in the Ganga are no longer available and millions of traditional fishermen who have made their living for generations by catching fish now face destitution. What had previously been a close relationship between the fishermen and local customers have now been replaced by a cold system comprising air-conditioned trucks and ice-laden crates of fish brought in by large companies from other states like Andhra Pradesh. This not only makes the market more cash driven, but also alienates traditional fishermen from their ancesteral profession in a situation where they do not have the training to do other jobs. Growing Struggles by Fisherfolks Fishermen in Bihar are raising the issue of depleting population of fish in the Ganga under the aegis of the Ganga Mukti Andolan. They are also beginning to involve the farmers in their struggle as they are reaching out to the peasantry by contending that mismanagement of the riverine projects is also leading to economic downfall on account of submergence and fertile tracts turning alkaline. However, the movement has reached this stage through a long and arduous route which has seen them crossing swords with both the government and the local vested interests. The Ganga Mukti Andolan has its origins in the unorganised resistance to the system of 'Panidari' in Bihar. Under this system, a handful of locally powerful people had commercial rights over a particular stretch of Ganga. They would not allow traditional fishermen to cast their nets unless they paid a substantial amount of tax. This system had been in operation since the time of the Mughal rulers and no one - not even the affected fishermen - had objected to it till the time the catch was sufficient. However, after the Farakka Barrage was commissioned and fishermen realised that the catch was declining in volume, they started to feel the pinch and started organising themselves. In the early 1980s, the fishermen - led by members of the Chattra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini - launched their agitation that defied the 'Panidars' and started fishing without paying taxes. For more than a decade their struggle was waged - which often led to the 'Panidars' attempting to violently prevent the fishermen from fishing. While the government was also petitioned for long, it took no decision for long. It was only towards the late 1980s that the state government after seeing the growing strength of the fisher people's movement, decided to legislate on the matter - a process that was duly completed only after the installation of the Janata Dal government in the state of Bihar in 1990. Nearly 80 kms of area under the 'Panidari' system was abolished and the movement spread to other areas along the Ganga river. In January 1991, the Bihar government declared that the fisher people will be given free fishing rights in all rivers passing through the state. Still, riverlets are not free and the struggle is intensifying. The fishermen are demanding the rights to fish without any hinderance in the backwaters and riverlets in the state. The demand has now been clubbed together with others demands relating to a more efficient management of the Ganga basin and is no longer looking towards the fishing community for support, but is also enlisting other communities in the struggle. The Farakka Barrage has caused serious damage to land and populace both upstream and downstream of the barrage. Corrective measures are called for immediately and if not taken then there are portents of much greater havoc both to the people and to the land. A detailed inter-disciplinary team need to be appointed that can study at length the problems that have surfaced on account of the barrage and suggest measures that can be initiated to reverse the process of the damage. Quelle: PIRG Update, 5/97, October 1997 PIRG Update is an occasional publication of Public
Interest Research Group, produced in English and Hindi. Editor : Kavaljit Singh
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