Relief tents find their way into black markets

Relief tents find their way into black markets
JANYALA SREENIVAS

BHUJ, MARCH 8: A Turkish tent for Rs 10,000, an Andhra Pradesh Government waterproof tent meant for `Gujarat Earthquake Relief' for Rs 2,000, a tarpaulin or a bare polythene sheet for Rs 800. Welcome to tent city Bhuj. If you want to live here now you might as well start paying for it.

Thirty-six days after the earthquake brought down 40 per cent of houses in Bhuj and left the rest badly damaged and unsafe for occupation, tents are in great demand in the city. The sad part is most of these tents have come as part of relief supplies from as far as Turkey and Switzerland which have now found their way somehow into the market.

``I managed to get one tent from the collectorate but our family is quite big and all of us could not squeeze into it. We tried to procure another tent but in vain. Finally we found out a man who said he could provide us one tent for Rs 2,000,'' says Ashokbhai Thakkar living at Jubilee. ``The tent he sold us has `Gujarat earthquake' Andhra Pradesh Govt stamped on it.''

Similar is the case of Satish Parikh, an ice-cream and pav bhaji

stall owner. ``This tarpaulin and polythene cost me Rs 500. I bought it from a boy who had about 8 to 10 with him and was selling near the bus stand,'' Parikh says.

If you are desperately in need of a tent in Bhuj approach any of pan shops on the ST bus depot road, make a few enquiries and leave. The `boys' who sell the tents will follow and catch you later. The Indian Express

team negotiated with one such boy for three tents. ``You stay here I will bring the tents. But they are a little costly. Can you afford Rs 2,000 for each one? They are real good you know `imported' and came in plane and are now in our godown,'' he says.

Large or joint families are facing problems more because all they have is just one tent if at all they get as part of relief. ``We are 12 members and our family just got one tent,'' says R.J. Oza, a district panchayat employee. ``We paid Rs 200 for a tarpaulin tent where the children sleep.''

In fact, the sale of tents has become so rampant in Bhuj that there have been a number of complaints with the Kutch District Collector Anil Mukim. It has also prompted the Kutch Vikas Manch to start a dharna outside the collectorate to draw his attention. ``On one hand, they say they are short of tents. On the other, tents are selling in the city for exorbitant prices,'' says Mahesh Moolchandani, chairman of the Manch who bought a Turkish tent for Rs 10,000 only as a proof for the collector's eyes.

Kutch Collector Anil Mukim admits he has been receiving complaints. ``Yes, some complaints have come to me but how do I get them checked? So many tents have come in relief supplies. While we have tried to maintain a record of all of them there is none for the initial 15 days after the quake. These tents which are being sold must have arrived during that time and found their way into the market.''

BJP corporator Tarachand Cheda says tents are selling like hot cakes in Bhuj. ``But you have to expect that now. There is a shortage of safe living space. Tents are the only solution and they are in short supply. I don't know how some miscreants laid their hands on relief supplies. Now they are selling in the city. Workers have been complaining to me about it and I have instructed them to catch hold of these miscreants next time they see them,'' Cheda told The Indian Express

The sale of tents has also drawn the attention of Bhuj BJP MP Pushpadhan Gadhvi who set out on Wednesday afternoon to investigate the matter himself. ``When I came here yesterday, the first complaint I received was about the sale of tents. I am looking into it today and will talk to the collector.''