More than two months since cyclone Aila struck their villages, villagers in South 24-Parganas say they are yet to get any aid from government agencies.

Padma Kuila from Haripur, Namkhana, said till now all they have received from the government agencies is negligible in comparison to the destruction in the area. “We have nothing —no land, soil is still salty, no roof over our heads, no food and there has been no relief work and camps in our area,” said Kuila.

Around 300 people from different blocks in South 24-Parganas gathered in front of district magistrate Khalil Ahmad’s office on Monday to demand work and food. Their slogan — “give us food or jail us”.

Swapan Ganguly, the general secretary of Paschimbanga Khet Majoor Samity, which had organised the demonstration outside the DM’s office, said: “Today, we are demanding a number of things apart from the mandatory food relief, which we are entitled to. An adult is supposed to get 12 kg of rice per month and a child around 6 kg, but we have found cases where people have got barely 600 gm of rice.”

Having conducted a month-long survey in Aila-affected 24 Parganas, Ganguly said that most people are still struggling to survive without any food and work.

Ganguly said the list that the government had prepared of the people eligible for aid to build their houses was incomplete with many Aila-affected people left out. Moreover, even the NREGS scheme was not being implemented properly.

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