SHILLONG:
The villagers of Dangar in East Khasi Hills district are crying out for help from authorities to protect them from the ever-encroaching Umngi river.
The villagers said that whenever the Umngi river is in spate, especially during the monsoon season, they have sleepless nights fearing that they could lose their houses and land.
Hamless Syiemlieh, Rangbah Shnong of Dangar, said that a village inhabited by the Hajong community was completely washed away in recent years and the residents had to shift to Umbir village after the Syiem of Maharam, Niandro Syiemiong, donated them some land.
Syiemlieh also informed that the Dorbar Shnong of Dangar village in 2020 wrote to the tate’s Water Resources department asking to build an approximately 500-metre-long protection wall to stop the river from encroaching into the village.
“The village is in the path of the river,” he said.
Syiemlieh said the river had earlier gobbled up a government lower primary school, a temple and a cemetery in Balat village in adjoining South West Khasi Hills district.
He also informed that due to the advancing river many residents are fleeing their homes and buying land far away from Umngi.
Work on a project to save Balat is already in progress.
Balat village has been the worst affected by the Umngi river but with the implementation of the project by the Brahmaputra Board the encroachment has stopped.
The residents of Dangar village are pinning their hopes on the state government to save them.
When this reporter visited Dangar and Balat he could see that work was going on in full swing in the Balat area.
W Syiemlieh, secretary of Balat village dorbar, informed that since the river started encroaching into their area from 2008 about 250 households have been displaced.
He said that in earlier days the river was far away from habitations and they would always go to there to take bath.
“This place is hot and by the time we returned home we would be sweating again,” he added.
Syiemlieh said that the river has already reached their houses due to erosion coupled with irresponsibility on the part of the authorities in the past.
“The river has been slowly eroding the villages and the lackadaisical attitude of our leaders has worsened the situation further,” he added.
Syiemlieh said that schools, a super market, ICDS centres, playgrounds and houses have been lost to the river.
He said that Mawshaliah village inhabited by the Hajong community, Lalpani, Mailam and other adjoining villages are in danger of submerging.
M Wahlang, member of the Balat Dorbar, said that they are grateful that the present legislators and the government are doing their best to save the villages from the eroding river.
Meanwhile, authorities of the Brahmaputra Board, Regional Office for Meghalaya, who are implementing the project to protect Balat village, have completed Phase I and Phase II is in progress.
The Phase I started in 2015-16 at a cost of Rs 5.63 crore. Phase I consisted of the construction of a ‘pilot channel’ to divert the water as well as construction of ‘bed bars’.
The Phase II was sanctioned in 2018 and work started in March 2020 and it will be completed in February 2022.
The work is on in full swing and, according to Board officials, 85 per cent of the work was completed by December 2021.
For the second phase an amount of Rs 12.65 crore has been sanctioned for ‘bank revetment’ work.
An official said that the government has written to the Board to start Phase III.
“The state government should pursue the matter with the Brahmaputra Board to safeguard the remaining critical affected villages,” the official said.
The official also urged the villagers in the area not to dig up boulders from Umngi river to protect the surrounding areas.