--  Payal Rajpal, October 26, 2005

Taltoli village used to exist on the banks of the Padma River, where the boarder of India meets Bangladesh. Today, after over ten years of uncontrolled river erosion in Jalangi, Murshidabad, the village land once rich in agriculture and small enterprises lies beneath the water's surface. Over six kilometers of land inward has been lost. Thousands of villagers, now displaced, have lost their homes, livelihoods and even family members to the natural calamity. The entire village is hungry and dying; fear and desperation spread across villagers' faces.

With no land, the former agricultural labourers have no alternative means for their livelihood. Many beg while others find daily wage work on farms. If lucky, the villagers eat once daily. The majority of children are malnourished and suffer night-blindness, caused by the acute lack of vitamin A.

In the past ten months, several confirmed starvation-related deaths have been reported. In one instance, a young boy died after being so hungry that he ate limestone paste thinking it was curd. Another teenage girl hanged herself after her mother could not afford to buy even one rupee of food. An elderly couple, after having not eaten for weeks, died directly from the lack of food. The stories told, with tears running down the cheeks of relatives, are hard to swallow. What worsens the situation is that many more deaths go unreported because of the intense threats made by the local administration, which wishes to silence the villagers from voicing their concerns.

It is disappointing to realize that in a state lauded for its work against hunger and poverty, hundreds, if not thousands, of people in West Bengal are still suffering due to government neglect. Funds have been earmarked to remedy the river erosion yet no work has started. Food assistance has been promised to 500 villagers yet the public distribution shops will not provide any rations. A rehabilitation programme has been designed for the victims, yet provides no amenities, food assistance or means of earning a livelihood. Why? How many more people have to starve to death before the government takes action to alleviate people's hunger and suffering?

The following pictures illustrate the dire situation of the communities living by the Padma River. The pictures themselves tell a story that words cannot.

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Photo 1: The kilometres of land that have been washed away by the Padma River erosion in the last ten years.

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Photo 2: Over one-half a kilometre of land has been lost in this monsoon season alone. Houses, farms, workshops and even people have succumbed to the swelling river, and no one knows exactly when more land will be washed away.

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Photo 3: Sanjeev Karmakar, whose home is just feet from the river's edge, tears down his house brick by brick in order to salvage what he can.

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Photo 4: The typical home of a displaced villager. A mud and straw hut will normally house a family of at least six.

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Photo 5: A young girl eats what the villagers consider a hearty meal: rice and fish skin.

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Photo 6: Village life.

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Photo 7: A community of displaced villagers, with no where to go, set up temporary homes made of mud and straw on rice paddy fields.