Displaced families and wild elephants share fragile sandbar homes on the Teesta river

Residents of Premganj char, a vulnerable sandbar settlement near Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, navigate severe floods and seasonal visits from wild elephant herds while cultivating unstable river land. Also known as Jaliapara, the settlement sits on temporary silt formations reshaped by shifting river flows and climate pressures.

Climate And Floods

Fifty-seven-year-old resident Budharu Muhammed recalls surviving major floods in 1968 and 2023, the latter triggered by a glacial lake outburst flood from South Lhonak Lake in Sikkim. That 2023 surge carried debris, military materiel from flooded army camps, and toxic pollutants from shops and factories, leaving residents with skin rashes. ATREE strategic advisor Eklabya Sharma notes that riverbeds are rising due to accumulating sediment, boulders, and debris from upstream landslides, worsening bank erosion.

Elephant Movements

Adding to flood concerns, male elephant groups known as maljurias arrive seasonally to forage on cultivated crops. Researcher Avijan Saha of Airavat Trust states that elephant movements into Jaliapara began around 2018, with roughly 100 elephants now entering seasonally from nearby forests like Baikunthapur. The wider North Bengal landscape supports over 700 elephants, whose movements align with cropping cycles, particularly peaking during the maize season from March to June when animals frequently damage homes and crops.

Human Livelihoods

Despite risks, residents maintain farming, fishing, and boat-making livelihoods on the charland, leasing plots to migrants from climate-vulnerable areas like the Sundarbans and Cooch Behar. Muhammed holds about 15 bighas of land, noting that families farm the unsettled land until floods wash it away.

Context

Charlands are temporary riverine sandbars formed by Himalayan sediment deposits that attract farmers due to fertile soils despite lacking formal legal titles. Habitat fragmentation across North Bengal from tea gardens, railways, and canals forces wildlife into close proximity with human settlements along changing river paths.