Arunachal: Borguli Farmers Build Bunds with Their Own Money to Save Their Crop from the Fury of the Siang River

Arunachal Pradesh Borguli Farmers: The flood-affected farmers of ‘Kongkin Rikyu’ WRC fields have launched a voluntary flood control programme.

For the past several days at least 60 farmer families of Borguli village under Mebo Sub-Division in East Siang district of Arunahcal Pradesh are tirelessly working not just in their paddy fields but also building bunds to save their crop from the fury of the Siang River that is threatening to erode the fields.
They are using their own money to build the bunds using boulders as repeated request to the authorities did not yield any result.

The flood-affected farmers of ‘Kongkin Rikyu’ Wetland Rice Cultivation (WRC) fields have launched a voluntary flood control programme to protect their land from severe erosion caused by the Siang River.

Joito Tayeng, President of the Kongkin Rikyu WRC Field Farmers’ Group, along with General Secretary Tokmin Sisam said, “We are constructing the boulder bunds through our own collective effort because the government has not yet provided any support. We could not afford to wait for help and risk losing all our fields. However, we still believe the state government will step in before it’s too late.”

Retired teachers Pampok Lego and Joint Tayeng, who are also among the affected farmers, echoed similar concerns. They said the Siang River now flows just a few metres away from the WRC fields, and any delay in diverting or slowing down the river’s current during the upcoming monsoon could wash away their farmlands. “This voluntary effort is our last hope to save our fields,” they added.

Kalingbung Tayeng, a youth leader actively involved in the bund construction, appealed to the state government for urgent help. “We request Chief Minister Pema Khandu to sanction sufficient funds for flood control work along the left bank of the Siang River in the Kongkin area of Borguli. Our fields are on the verge of being lost,” he said.

The bund construction is underway at two crucial points where the river current hits hard near the Tatsing and Siang River confluence, south of New Borguli village. The community’s efforts are aimed at safeguarding their fields from the consistent and aggressive erosion caused by the river, which has become a yearly threat to the residents of Borguli and other villages in the Monggu Banggo area.

Since the devastating flash flood of 2000 widely known as the ‘Chinese flood’, the Siang River has changed its course from the right bank to the left bank, leading to severe erosion.
Over the past two and a half decades, especially in the last 8–10 years, hundreds of hectares of agricultural and cash crop lands have been lost. Vital infrastructure like the Mebo-Dhola Road, electric poles, school buildings, and hospitals have also been washed away.

Now, the affected villagers are urging the government to construct permanent flood control structures along the left bank of the Siang River. They stressed that only a continuous road-cum-flood control bund from Sigar to Mer village, a stretch of around 20 to 30 kilometers can provide long-term protection for their land and livelihood.

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