A pilgrimage meets climate change on an island

On January 12, several Ministers of the West Bengal government gathered at a conference room on Sagar Island, situated at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal — the southernmost tip of the State — to brief mediapersons on the arrangements for the Gangasagar Mela 2025. Lakhs of pilgrims visit the island every year to participate in the religious fair and take a dip at the confluence of the Ganga and the sea on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on January 14. The site is considered sacred and is home to the Kapil Muni temple.

Aroop Biswas, the seniormost among the Ministers, who holds the Power, Housing, and Sports and Youth Affairs portfolios, quipped that an old Bengali saying has changed with the times. “‘Sab tirtha baar baar, Gangasagar ek baar (Visit all places of pilgrimage again and again, but go to Gangasagar only once)’ has changed to ‘Gangasagar baar baar (Visit Gangasagar again and again)’,” he said.

Sagar Island, situated about 120 km from the State capital Kolkata, is the largest island in the Sundarbans archipelago, with a population of around two lakh, as per the 2011 Census. Reaching the once-remote island involves navigating the mighty Muriganga river. Now, there are frequent ferry services mainly due to the initiative of the Mamata Banerjee-led government, which has made the religious event a key part of the Trinamool Congress’s outreach efforts.

During the press conference, the Minister drew parallels between the Gangasagar Mela and the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He questioned the lack of support from the Union government towards the event in West Bengal and highlighted the footfall at the Gangasagar Mela, with about 42 lakh pilgrims visiting the island between January 1 and 12.

There were no answers to queries on how much was spent from the State’s coffers this year for the event. Last year’s expenses came up to around ₹250 crore. Hosting the mela involves setting up thousands of tents and barricades, installing public announcement systems, and making adequate security arrangements to accommodate the large number of pilgrims.

After the press conference, a group of journalists approached Bankim Chandra Hazra, the 75-year-old Minister for Sundarban Affairs, over the issue of erosion. The school teacher-turned-politician, who has represented the Sagar Assembly seat for the past two decades, said softly, “The sea is just 470 metres from the Kapil Muni temple. About 10 years ago, it was 1,500 metres away. The average tidal surge, which is 4.6 metres during high tide, increases to 7.6 metres at the beach in front of the temple.”

He added that the only hope of arresting erosion is a proposed ₹4,100-crore project between the World Bank and the West Bengal government. The project aims to strengthen the embankments across 52 inhabited islands in the Sundarbans, with the World Bank bearing 70% of the cost and the State government covering the remaining 30%.

National vs local

As dusk falls on Sagar Island, the crowd at the Gangasagar Mela swells, the pitch of announcements for lost individuals gets shriller, and the site bustles with energy. The Kapil Muni temple is illuminated with rows of bright lights. Lights from three triangular structures of the temple fall on the waters where the river meets the sea. However, pilgrims are barred from accessing the beach, which has been severely eroded. Two roads running through the beach, connecting the temple and the confluence, have been closed. The beach in front of the temple, which had gentle slopes and white sands gradually meeting the waves, has become a sea of mud.

Pilgrims now assemble for the holy dip on beaches about a kilometre from the temple, where rows of boats bring in fish to be dried and sold. This year, the auspicious time for the dip was declared by priests as between 6.58 a.m. on Makar Sankranti and 6.58 a.m. on January 15. By January 13 afternoon, sadhus begin arriving for the annual pilgrimage; Naga sadhus opted to attend the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj this year.

Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Puri, is among the seniormost monks to arrive at the Gangasagar Mela well before the auspicious hour. Emphasising the pilgrimage’s religious significance, he asserts that it is no less than that of the Kumbh Mela. “What can be more significant than a place where the Ganga meets the sea? I have been coming here for the past 30 years. In no way is the significance of the mela less than any national mela,” he tells devotees and a group of journalists.

Sitting in a decorated tent next to the eroded beach, the Shankaracharya engages in discussions on religion and politics with his followers. He also endorses the proposal of the West Bengal government that the annual pilgrimage be accorded national mela status.

“[Prime Minister Narendra] Modi does not have mamata (compassion) towards Chief Minister Mamata [Banerjee],” he says. However, the next moment, the Shankaracharya appears upset with the State government over its plans to build a Lord Jagannath temple near Digha beach modelled after the one in Puri, Odisha.

The Shankaracharya also voices concerns about erosion threatening the Kapil Muni temple and says trees were cut down to create infrastructure for the mela. “Who is thinking about climate change? Everyone wants development, but at what cost?” he says.

Climate change experts believe that large-scale construction on Sagar Island’s ecologically fragile beaches has worsened erosion.

Tuhin Ghosh, a professor at Jadavpur University’s School of Oceanographic Studies, says, “There were sand dunes and vegetation followed by a flat beach about 30 years ago. Gradually, the vegetation and undulations were cleared and made flat for extension of the mela ground. Since these barriers were done away with, the attacks of waves have increased.”

Experts, including Ghosh, point out that most constructions for the mela violate Coastal Regulation Zone provisions, which prohibit building within 500 metres of the high tide line.

Fishing trouble

About 20 km from the din of the mela is Bamkimnagar village, where people have borne the brunt of rising sea levels and frequent cyclones. The afternoons are quiet as women cook lunch and the fishermen repair nets.

Mehrun Bibi’s house is located almost on the edge of the sea. The sound of waves lashing against the land can be heard in the afternoon. Despite several attempts with a small net, the 39-year-old does not find any fish in her pond. “I still have to cook some rice and there is no fish. Maybe it is because of the increase in salinity.”

Living on the edge of the island with the sea is scary, Mehrun says. She recalls the last major cyclones: Yaas (May 2021), Remal (May 2024), and Dana (October 2024). “They pushed us out of our houses. We had to stay in cyclone relief shelters for days and weeks,” she says. Whenever a cyclone approaches, the family has to leave pets behind and most of them die when the village gets submerged. “I have regular arguments with my mother-in-law. I tell her I do not want to rear chicken anymore,” Mehrun says, pointing at the coop next to the pond and a couple of chickens that walk around her house.

A few houses away lives Bilasini Bar, 37, who is chopping pumpkin for lunch. Her home has no concrete roof. Her 19-year-old son dropped out of school a few years ago. Like Mehrun, Bar is worried that when the next cyclone strikes, she will have to move with her goats. “We have to work daily to feed ourselves. The mela means nothing much to us,” she says.

Saddam Gazi, 26, stays with his mother Sakila Bibi in a house that is hardly 50 metres from the sea. A graduate in English from Sagar Mahavidyalaya, Gazi works as a pathology technician and collects blood samples from the island to make a living.

A cricket enthusiast, Gazi says rising sea levels are reducing employment opportunities for the youth on the island, and many of them have to migrate to other States for work. No one wants to set up a business on land that may be submerged. A few years ago, a concrete embankment was erected, clearing the mangroves, but this was washed away by cyclones, leaving the people more exposed to the sea.

Now, between the sea and the modest houses of Mehrun, Bar, and Gazi is an earthen embankment. It is covered with geotextiles, which are synthetic materials used in construction. The local fishermen have spread their fishing nets on it to dry. The smell of dried fish fills the air.

Dipak Maity, 42, a fisherman, says the administration has prohibited them from taking motorised fishing boats into the water from January 5 to 20 on account of the heavy movement of pilgrims across the water.

Along one corner of the earthen embankment, a few mangrove trees stand and fishermen leave their boats in their shade.

“When the embankments were made a few years ago, all the mangroves were cut to make way for big vehicles. The areas behind the mangroves have remained unaffected by the tidal surge,” Maity says, highlighting the importance of natural barriers.

Centre vs State

As Makar Sankranti draws to a close, the State government starts patting itself on the back. Biswas claims that the number of pilgrims has crossed 85 lakh. By January 15, the government pegs the number of pilgrims who visited the island over the past two weeks at 1.10 crore. The Minister describes the event as the “best mela in the country”. A similar number of pilgrims had visited the island last year too, the State government says.

But the ecological stress of so many people visiting the site weighs heavily on Hazra, who once again talks to a group of journalists on why erosion prevention measures do not work in front of the Kapil Muni temple. “Geotextiles, which are useful in other places on Sagar Island, are not working here as waves directly hit the coastline,” he explains.

RTI activist Biswanath Goswami, who is at the mela, casts doubts on the claim that one crore people visited the island in 2024. He cites data provided in response to an RTI query, which reveal that only around 4.57 lakh vessel tickets were sold from January 10 to 16 last year. The only way to reach the island is by boat.

Many political observers see the Trinamool Congress government pushing for organising the Gangasagar Mela and building temples as a “soft Hindutva push” to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party, its main political opponent in the State, which relies on “polarisation of voters on religious lines as an electoral strategy”.

“It is part of the identity politics of Trinamool Congress. It promotes religious events and gatherings such as Gangasagar Mela on Sagar Island and Kumbh Mela at Tribeni in Hooghly. This has worked for the party over the past 13 years,” says Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of Political Science at Rabindra Bharati University.

The Chief Minister, while overseeing arrangements for the Gangasagar Mela, had addressed a government event on Sagar Island on January 6. She appealed to the Kapil Muni temple trust to allocate funds for constructing concrete embankments to prevent rising seawater from reaching the temple.

“The Centre gives thousands of crores of rupees for the Kumbh Mela. The Centre does not give any money for the Gangasagar Mela. They do not even look at Gangasagar. All arrangements at Gangasagar are made by us,” she said.

The priests of the temple, however, are concerned that if the erosion continues, the temple will cease to exist.