Intangible bank erosion: A threat to the life of Matla-Bidyadhari interfluve in Sundarbans

In recent days, frequent bank erosion in the inhabited parts of Sundarban delta has become a burning issue as no such previous attempts were successful to tame the tidal circuit of the Sundarban delta. Man, since his initial inhabitance in this part of West Bengal, has always overexploited these blessed tidal rivers who have all-time gifted hectares and hectares of fertile floodplains and jungles for easy and smooth livelihood. But side by side, man misunderstood their natural gift and tried to capture their natural activities to gain more and more. Ultimately these natural agents like tidal channels khals, creeks have either decayed due to the inhuman activities with them or changed their hydrological character to cope up with the present awkward fluvio-geomorphological conditions.

This article mainly focused on the changing courses of those major tidal channels like- Matla River, Bidyadhari River, some major interlinking tidal channels like Hogol Nadi-Karatal Gang, tidal khals like Pathankhali Khal and creeks through bank erosion and alarming bank conditions in the inhabited parts of the world's largest delta, Sundarbans. The author also has narrated how the bank erosions became an annual routine and also became intangible in nature due to unscientific land use and land reclamation programmes in the juvenile deltaic parts of Sundarban delta. The Matla-Bidyadhari interfluve has been taken as a model unit one in Sundarbans to discuss the topic because it represents similar hydro-morphological characteristics and land use pattern found in the other inhabited interfluves of Sundarbans.