Soriya Banu, a Community Correspondent with Video Volunteers, is the only earning member of her family of four and is employed at a local NGO where she conducts First Aid Training and works on health care literacy and access. Soriya uses her tools as a Community Correspondent to bring impact to issues ranging from road conditions and water contamination, from…

Soriya Banu

Video Volunteers community correspondent Soriya Banu reports from China Bazaar, a small village in West Bengal's Malda district, where more than 700 families have lost their house and land due to soil erosion. Situated close to the river Ganga, this village and its residents are now living under the open sky. Many elderly and children are starving as all their belongings have washed away. They had no time to react and grab the essentials, they say.

Locals allege that land erosion of China Bazaar started after the 1976 Farakka project was commissioned. Since then, as the environment degraded slowly, the river dissolved acres of land eating into the livelihood  of the villagers.

The locals demand compensation for the loss of their land and of their complete rehabilitation. 

Also from the same CC: Malda Locals Fear Soil Erosion Might Take Away Everything From Them