Deluged farmers not on list of flood victims

AFTER THE FLOODS: The aftermath of the flood will continue for these farmers year after year.

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Araria (Bihar): Makhani Devi had taken an agricultural loan of Rs 2 lakh from a local bank, but before she could harvest her crop and repay the loan waters from River Kosi washed away her standing crop.

Now, she comes to her field everyday and sits and cries for hours before she gets back home. She has lost her only means of livelihood.

"We have no food to eat and moneylenders want the money back at any cost. I wonder if I can ever have a house to stay," she says.

Over 2 million farmers of the Bihar region have a similar story to share. Over one lakh hectare of land is now covered with heavy sand deposits brought by the flood waters and crop worth Rs 200 crore has been damaged.

The River Kosi flood has not only devastated homes and highways but also the hopes of millions of farmers of North Bihar. What were once high yielding fields have all been destroyed by heavy sand deposit, the brunt of which will be felt by farmers of the region for another five years.

This situation has affected people in the adjoining areas too, with flood waters gushing into many fields and creating heavy sand deposits.

And the irony is that these people who have lost their livelihoods and farms do not even figure in the list of flood victims.

Many say they are leaving the region forever and will come back only when the conditions are better.

With farmlands destroyed, it seems that the aftermath of the flood will continue for these farmers year after year.