Around 50 houses were gobbled up by the Ganga in a 12-hour period since Saturday night because of the erosion of the left bank at Baishnabnagar in Malda district.

Hundreds of residents have started shifting to safer places since Sunday morning as the river is gulping chunks of land every hour. After repeated alerts from the state irrigation department, the Farakka Barrage Project (FBP) Authority has started anti-erosion works at Baishnabnagar that comes under the Kaliachak 3 block.

Sources said the Ganga had started eroding land in the Bhimagram-Hatkhola area of Baishnabnagar on Saturday night.

“Most of us were asleep or were about to go to bed when we heard the sound of chunks of land falling into the river. When we rushed out, we found the river steadily advancing into our village. We started shifting our belongings to safer places and gradually, the erosion took a severe turn. By this morning, as many as 50 houses were washed away by the river as we stood helplessly,” said Rajib Sheikh, a local Trinamul leader.

Sources said the Ganga had devoured five houses on June 26 and another 35 homes on July 7.

“But the erosion that we have been witnessing since Saturday late evening is appalling. On house after another was collapsing into the river. Almost 100 houses were swallowed by the Ganga this year alone,” said Ziaul Haque, a school teacher.

The families which have turned homeless overnight are staying at the local primary school. The block administration has provided them with relief, said the sources.

The FBP Authority, a central government organisation, has the responsibility to carry out anti-erosion works along a long stretch of the left bank of the Ganga, including at Baishnabnagar.

A few days ago, a team of the authority officials had visited the erosion-prone areas and they would take up the task on war footing, said the sources.

“We are battling the erosion. The victims have been accommodated at safer places and provided with relief. We have come to know that the FBP authorities have completed the tender process of anti-erosion work and the project is expected to start soon,” |said Mamun Akhtar, the Kaliachak 3 block development officer.