In West Bengal’s Ghatal, Severe Floods Leave No Dry Land For Cremation

Many districts in South Bengal are on the verge of a massive flood as the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has released water from dams. Along with this, the region has been facing incessant and continuous rains. Amid this, the state government is closely monitoring the situation with district magistrates on high alert. The Damodar Valley Corporation has issued a red alert in the area as water discharge escalated to 2.5 lakh cusecs on Tuesday, September 17. Water levels in many rivers in the state have reached the danger mark in many areas. Regions like West Medinipur including Ghatal are flooded. The heavy rains have also led to the breaking of a dam on the Kure River in Birbhum, affecting 15 villages. Such is the condition, that there is not an inch of land left to cremate a loved one.

Continuous rains in southern parts of West Bengal have caused flooding. In one of the families, a member died and hours went by without anyone finding a dry land for the cremation. Several hours passed since the death of 55-year-old Pratima Chowdhury from Garh Pratappur in Ghatal. She died on Tuesday night and due to the ongoing floods, there was no dry land left for her cremation. Her family was left with no other choice but to place the body on a boat, navigate it through the strong currents of water on the road and look for a cremation site somewhere else. The bereaved family was left dealing with quite some challenges.

In an interview with Local18, Rajkumar Chowdhury, a relative of Pratima Chowdhury shared that they had to transport the body elsewhere due to lack of dry land. The cremation was performed several hours later after a suitable land was found for the final rites.

The release of water from the dams and reservoirs has worsened the situation in Ghatal. The Dwarakeswar River has breached as well causing floods in Hooghly. This has led people to leave their homes in search of a safe and secure shelter. The flooding has also caused a lot of damage to the crops as they got washed away. Bankura, West Burdwan, East Burdwan, Hooghly, and Howrah along the Damodar are some of the areas hardest hit by the flood situation.