Malda: 2 drown in past 24 hours in flood-hit Bhutni
Malda: Back-to-back tragedies have struck flood-ravaged Bhutni in Manikchak block of Malda. Within a span of 24 hours, two lives were lost to drowning in the swirling floodwaters.
On Wednesday morning, 12-year-old Hemangini Mondal, a sixth-grade student of Paschim Narayanpur High School, drowned while bathing with friends in the inundated Mahendratola area. Despite desperate efforts by locals with boats and nets, her lifeless body was recovered after half an hour, plunging the entire village into mourning.
Just a day earlier, 21-year-old student Roj Sheikh of Julabditola met a similar fate. While returning home on a bicycle through a flooded stretch with a friend, he was swept away by the Ganga’s surging waters. Known as a bright student, his death has cast a pall of grief over the locality.
Meanwhile, fresh erosion has begun at Biharitola in Lakshmipur Gram Panchayat under Kaliachak-III block. Since Wednesday morning, the Ganga devoured a temporary embankment, sending floodwaters into three to four nearby villages. Several acres of bamboo groves have collapsed into the river and terrified residents have started dismantling their homes to flee to safer ground.
“This is a tragedy that could have been avoided,” said Debjyoti Sinha, a resident and a social activist of Bhutni. “Despite repeated appeals, neither the NDRF nor civil defence teams have been staying in our area. People here are left to save themselves when disaster strikes.”
The worsening situation in Bhutni has forced the district administration to shift Higher Secondary examination centres to Manikchak College, as five more villages went under water in just 24 hours. With the Ganga flowing at 25.40 metre, 10 cm above the extreme danger mark, a red alert has been issued. Residents are demanding urgent action to control erosion and proper rehabilitation for the displaced before Durga Puja.
