Near-Famine Conditions in Aila Affected K-plot in Sundarbans

Guest post by Somnath Mukherji

8th Feb, 2010

I just returned after visiting some of the Aila Affected areas where AID has been working with BTS since May, 2009. I spent most of the day on a very remote island called the K-plot which was one of the worst hit because it is open to the Bay of Bengal. AID had provided relief and also agricultural training through Revathi and DRCSC.

A near famine condition exists on the island. A few people who had received training were able to grow some vegetables but most of the land is lying barren like a desert. There has been no agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for all.

Residents of K-plot have never seen their island so barren

Worst hit of course are the landless families who worked on others’ lands to earn a livelihood. People here are not used to buying rice with cash. They either grow it or earn it as sharecroppers. Now people are being forced to buy rice for Rs. 22 a Kg. Prices of vegetables have also skyrocketed. With no work and expensive food a famine-like situation is stalking the people who are managing on one to two meals a day.

People are living in tarpaulin encampments by the road
 
With political parties locked in a battle to create the affected peoples’ list, families whose homes have been broken have not yet received any compensation. There are a total of 700 families living under tarpaulin, some of which was supported by AID. Aila washed away the homestead of 17 families. They are now living by the road on someone else’s land which they have to vacate in a few days. Where will they go and what will they eat?

NREGS is the only work on the island right now where the embankments are being rebuilt. This has come about because of the pressure from women’s groups organized by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS – Anuradha Talwar’s group). But no one has received any payment so far.

Till the crops of the next season take roots in 2 months, something has to be done to keep the worst affected families (400 by the estimate of the groups) going. They are all ready to work hard. The question is to find work. We had long discussions with the groups as well as the women in the villages and came up with some ideas.

Khela Path lives in this hutment with 7 other family members.
 
Khela Path, lives in a tarpaulin encampment with 7 other family members. Two of his children cannot speak and suffer from mental handicap. Khela is the only earning member who gets about 10 days of work a month through NREGS and is yet to receive any payment.

Jaba Dewa with her mentally handicapped son

Jaba Dewa is a widow with a grown up son who is mentally handicapped and hence incapable of working. Jaba begs from door to door but no one in the village has enough to share these days. I looked into her eyes blurred by cataract and felt a pain rising from my stomach.

As I was walking on the embankment towards the ghat, an older muslim man came howling to me. I held him but could not understand anything he said except that he had  lost everything. I could not bring myself to ask what he was saying.

Further down the embankment, another man told me that his wife and daughter had gone begging five days ago and have not returned home since. He tries to work through NREGS but has no strength left because he is not eating.

A thin slice of the forested island separated the wide Thakuran river opening itself into the Bay of Bengal from the clear sky above – a serenity betrayed the human condition on K-plot.