About 150 km south of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal, lies an island which, for several years now, is being washed away not in bits, but in swathes.
The Ghoramara islands in the Sundarban Delta complex of the Bay of Bengal has been facing the devastating effects of climate change. With rising sea levels, high tides and floods have been swallowing portions of the island. In the last two decades, the island's size has reduced by several times its original land mass.
According to a 2015 report in The Indian Express, the island, also referred to as the "sinking island", "was spread over 22,000 bighas" but now has been "reduced to approximately 5,000 bighas". The effect is such that there is apparently a possibility that the island may be wiped off of the map very soon.
Thousands over the years have been forced to move inwards or leave the region altogether.
"While the primary occupation of the people on the island is fishing," Tanmoy says "a lot of them also have moved to Kerala as migrant labourers."
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