The loud bang survivors of the Coromandel Express recall from the point of impact still rings in their ears as they count their dead, assess their own injuries and contemplate the toughest question before them – what now?
Around 50 houses were gobbled up by the Ganga in a 12-hour period since Saturday night because of the erosion of the left bank at Baishnabnagar in Malda district.
Hundreds of residents have started shifting to safer places since Sunday morning as the river is gulping chunks of land every hour. After repeated alerts from the state irrigation department, the Farakka Barrage Project (FBP) Authority has started anti-erosion works at Baishnabnagar that comes under the Kaliachak 3 block.
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Sources said the Ganga had started eroding land in the Bhimagram-Hatkhola area of Baishnabnagar on Saturday night.
“Most of us were asleep or were about to go to bed when we heard the sound of chunks of land falling into the river. When we rushed out, we found the river steadily advancing into our village. We started shifting our belongings to safer places and gradually, the erosion took a severe turn. By this morning, as many as 50 houses were washed away by the river as we stood helpl