Village under water: Once a year, it surfaces

But a village in the state of Goa, India, may be more unique among them, as its inhabitants continue to return, even though it has disappeared.

Exactly, the village is visible for only one month of the year, and the other 11 are below the sea.

Curdi lies between the hills of the West Goa Mountains and the Salaulim River. At one time it was a very fertile village in southeast Goa, until 1986 when it disappeared completely. After the first dam was built in the country, the village was completely flooded. Each year in May, water withdraws and shows what remains of it today, reports the BBC.

The remains of homes, religious buildings, and others surface. The country where the village was formed, with a population of 3,000, was very fertile and with different agricultural cultures. They grew coconut, moss, mango, and Nangka. Hindus, Muslims, and Christians lived in one place. There was also a main temple, some smaller ones, a church, and a Muslim shrine. Things changed dramatically after Goa was released from the Portuguese in 1961.

First Minister Dayand Bandodkar visited the village and announced the construction of a dam, the first in the state. He gathered the locals and told them what benefits it would have for the entire area.

“He said he would overthrow our village, but our sacrifice would be for the greater good,” remembers 75-year-old Gayan Kurdika.

The village families were given land in a neighboring village for compensation. It was a very ambitious project built on the banks of the Salamis River. The Salaulim Watering Project was to provide drinking water, irrigation and industrial purposes for most of the South Goa. And he had to provide 400 million gallons [400 million L] of water for citizens every day.

When we arrived in this new village, we had nothing,” recalls Inacio Rodriguez, who was among the first families to move to 1982.

They stayed in temporary homes until they built their own. For some, it took about five years. Gurucharan Kurdikar was ten when his family moved to 1986.

I remember my parents putting everything in their truck. Me, my brother and my grandmother. They followed us on their bikes”, now remembers 42-year-old.

His mother, Mamta Kurtikar, clearly remembers that day.

I think we were among the last families that stayed. The night before it rained a lot. And the water from the fields began to come into our homes. We had to leave immediately. I couldn't bring flour from the mill,” she says.

But the water from the dam never reached the village from which they had emigrated.

That system they promised did not arrive in the village south of Goa as promised. So we don't get drinking water from that dam,” says Gayan Kurticar.

There are two large wells in Vaddem, where Kurdikar now resides, which dry out in April and May. Then they depend on the state reserve that supplies them with drinking water. When the water withdraws, in May, residents visit their lost area. The Christian community meets for the annual festival, and the festival will also be held by Hindus.