For many protestors, this is not their first crisis. A significant number of families are currently facing their third displacement in less than a decade. As the swift currents of the Brahmaputra continue to swallow agricultural land and homesteads, villagers took to the embankments with placards, chanting slogans against the Water Resources Department.

“We have lost our homes, our fields, and our livelihoods to the river,” said Lila Bora, a local resident whose family was forced to dismantle their bamboo hut just last week. “Every year, the authorities come with temporary geo bags, but the first heavy rain washes them away. We don’t want temporary relief anymore, we want a permanent solution before the entire village disappears from the map.”

Majuli, the world’s largest river island, has shrunk drastically over the last century due to severe bank erosion. Despite multiple central and state government projects aimed at protecting the island, grassroots communities say the interventions lack long term viability.

Local youth groups and village elders have threatened to intensify their agitation and boycott upcoming local body activities if the administration fails to deploy heavy geo textile tubes and concrete porcupines along the highly vulnerable Kordoiguri stretch before the monsoon peak hits.

The post Left to the River: Majuli Villagers Protest Continuous Erosion appeared first on Mission Ki Awaaz.