Rapti River floods force Shravasti farmers to harvest unripe paddy crops

The raging Rapti River has turned into a deadly threat for farmers in Shravasti district, where surging floodwaters are devouring farmland and forcing cultivators to harvest unripe paddy crops in a desperate bid to salvage something from their investment.

The crisis is unfolding in the Veerpur Laukiha area under Jamunha tehsil, where the river's ferocious flow has robbed farmers of sleep and peace. Fields that were expected to yield a bountiful harvest in a few weeks are now submerged, and helpless farmers are being forced to cut down raw, green paddy crops before the encroaching waters swallow everything.

The efforts sown with borrowed money are vanishing into the river's currents within hours. With every passing hour, large chunks of fertile agricultural land are crumbling and disappearing into the Rapti, taking with them the hard-earned labour of farmers.

The distress is so acute that farmers are harvesting paddy plants whose grains have not even fully matured. They have no choice, if they do not cut the crop today, by tomorrow morning the land itself will have been consumed by the river. Hundreds of bighas of green crops, planted with loans taken for seeds and fertiliser, now stand on the brink of being lost to the river. What was meant to feed families is being reduced to cattle fodder.

A local farmer expressed the community's anguish. "Sahab, we took loans from banks and moneylenders to plant paddy. We thought when the crop came in, we would repay the debt and feed our children. But the Rapti has swallowed everything. The land is being cut away and washed into the water. If we don't harvest the unripe crop, there won't even be straw left. Hundreds of bighas of land have been eroded, and no one from the administration has even come to look," he said.

For the farmers of Veerpur Laukiha, the pain is not just about losing crops but about losing their very existence. Land is being eroded, homes stand on the edge, and hopes are dying.

Ravi Pratap Singh, SDM Jamunha, responded to the crisis. "The matter of agricultural land erosion by the Rapti River in the Veerpur Laukiha area has come to our notice. Instructions have been issued for a joint team of the revenue and irrigation departments to conduct on-site inspection. Lekhpals have been directed to immediately survey the affected farmers' crops and eroded land and prepare a detailed damage assessment report. In accordance with the government's intentions and disaster relief norms, every possible financial assistance and compensation as per rules will be provided to the affected farmers. Additionally, concerned departments have been asked to take necessary technical measures to prevent river erosion at sensitive locations," he stated.

Hundreds of bighas of land have already been lost to the erosion. The question now is when government and administrative help will reach the ground to wipe the tears of these helpless food providers caught between nature's fury and land erosion.