Koshi rendered many landless in hours

BY THIRA L BHUSAL
SUNSARI, Sept 5

It had been raining incessantly since morning. Kalicharan Yadav, his seven-year-old daughter, and his sister-in-law were sitting on the roadside at Laukahi sharing a piece of plastic paper to cover their heads under the rain.

A dejected Kalicharan was constantly looking down the road when his daughter showed him a boat in the distance toward the southern part bordering Bihar. It appeared to be approaching the road. Kalicharan and his family desperately wanted to know the condition of the remnants of his building from the boatman as they had abandoned the building to escape the flood since quite some days.

When the raging Koshi River breached its embankment at West Kushaha on August 18 and diverted eastward, it submerged the entire land around his building, and the water level reached up to their necks. Kalicharan then decided to flee his home along with his children, wife and other family members.

With over five bigha land, Kalicharan owned a concrete building until a few days back. He reared cattle and grew crops in his village bordering Bihar.

"I don't know how many years will it take to transform my paddy land into cultivable land because Koshi is flowing with a powerful current over it," Kalicharan said gloomily, adding, "I just pray that at least some parts of my building are intact."

On that fateful day of August 18, when the Koshi began its devastation, this owner of five bigha paddy land, became landless and penniless within hours.

Mohammad Salim Miya of Shripur-8 and Mohammad Safid Miya of Kushaha-3 are taking refuge at Bhagwati Secondary School at Inaruwa. The school is being used as a camp to house thousands of people displaced by the Koshi havoc.

Salim is father of three children and Safid is father of six. Salim's wife Ajam Khatun is eight months pregnant and Safid's wife is nine months pregnant.

Salim has five bigha land and a concrete building. Safid owns one bigha land and a house roofed with corrugated sheets. Unfortunately, the Koshi washed away their buildings, properties and valuables.

Similar is the plight of Mahammad Majrood, husband of five-month pregnant Hasina Khatun.
Staying inside the same room at the school, they had common stories. Everything of ours is ruined, they said. "These children's future has become uncertain, but more than this we have a very hard time fulfilling their demands and explaining the present situation."
When the Koshi breached its embankment their first priority was to save the lives of children and themselves, they said.

Most of the over 50 thousand people displaced by Koshi devastation share the same plight.
People displaced from villages inundated by Koshi are mostly farmers or daily-wage workers from madhesi communities. Majority of them are dalits who are both Hindu and Muslim.
The inundated villages are fertile lands suitable mainly for rice, sugarcane, jute, and for keeping fisheries.