No work, no water, people flee Kalahandi

No work, no water, people flee Kalahandi
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Bhawanipatna, Jan 4: Almost total crop loss, a crippling drinking water crisis and non-availability of any work in the vicinity, has badly hit 115 of the 195 gram panchayats in Orissa's poverty-stricken Kalahandi district.

With no other alternative in sight, people have left for places where they can hope to get any job to sustain themselves. As one steps into the affected villages, rows of mud huts with their doorways sealed with bamboo sticks welcome you.

Hardly anyone lives here now, says 60-year-old Krutibas of Burfa village whose wife and two sons have migrated to Mumbai in search of work. "I am guarding the home and the two buffaloes", he told a visiting PTI correspondent who visited ten far-flung villages.

Baichand Tandi (70) and Ramachandra (75) are among the other sentinels keeping watch over the village where the quietness of the graveyard pervades the atmosphere.

Lambodar (65) of Kanduljhar village, also abandoned by his wife and children, is among the few left behind.

Says Tandi: ``Our children have migrated two months ago. They have been wise to do so. Otherwise what would have they done here without work ? By fleeing this area, they can at least hope to escape starvation."

An almost similar scenario prevails in almost any village in the area where agriculture is dependant on rainfall. A few patches in the district which have been irrigated by the Indravati project, now nearing completion, have good crops.

Only women and children are found in Balipadar village, which in good times had a population of about 1,200. Hardly thirty men have stayed behind to face the gruelling future.

There is little work for the people as a project to renovate a dry tank in the village, for which Rs 40,000 was provided, had been completed.

"As no work is available, there is no point in staying behind and many of us are thinking of packing our bags," said 45-year-old Sanatan Bhoi whose crop land has been lying fallow.

The district authorities feel that the situation might become worse during February and March next. Though the serious drought situation was very much on the cards since the beginning of the kharif season following monsoon failure, funds were allocated for taking up labour intensive work only during November.

That too, only Rs one crore had been provided to the district administration in phases for taking up labour intensive work, sources said.

The district administration had calculated that it would require Rs 115 crore to provide employment to the affected people till the next kharif harvest.

Lack of employment had drastically affected the peoples' purchasing ability prompting them to migrate.

Driving past the worst-hit Artal, Borda, Dumria and Borbhata gram panchayats, one could not trace any labour intensive work being taken up anywhere except one programme worth Rs. 50,000 in progress at Dumria.

The condition of farmers who owned land and employed workers in their fields was even worse.

While they had suffered crop loss this year, they could not also go out and work as labourers if any work was taken up in their village.

"Please understand our plight. We are not accustomed to do such manual work. On the other hand, our family prestige stands in the way of our taking up such jobs to earn a few Rupees though we need it," said Tirthabasi Sahu of Dumria village.

"Besides, there has been no government plan to come to the rescue of such farming class who are also among the worst victims of the natural calamity," he feels.

Sahu bemoaned that the famers owning land received no assistance from the government while the promised 50 per cent subsidy on seeds for the rabi crop did not reach them.

He was also not sure about getting compensation through crop insurance.