GOVT ENTITLEMENTS ELUDE POOR KHARIAR FISHERS

the pioneer, STATE EDITION

GOVT ENTITLEMENTS ELUDE POOR KHARIAR FISHERS

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/govt-entitlements-elude-poor-khariar-fishers.html

Thursday, 21 November 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar

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Iused to do fishing when I was an able bodied person. Now I am old and weak, unable to move anywhere. We don’t have the right to fish in the ponds in Khariar town because they have been leased to contractors.

We don’t have money to take the ponds in auction. We have lost our source of living,” lamented Ugresan Kaibarta of Ward No – 3 of Khariar town.

Ugrasen, who is now above 70 years’ of age, literally broke down and cried, when he narrated his experience of running to the officials and the elected representative of the Notified Area Council (NAC) office for support. “They never listened to the poor like us,” he said.

Ugrasen lives with his 65-year-old wife in a dilapidated mud house in a slum, which is at a stone’s throw from the NAC office.

Gariba Kaibarta is another sick and aged fisherman of this ward. The house once he lived looks like a mound of earth. “I don’t have a shelter above my head since my mud house collapsed in the rain. We are alive only due to `1-a-kg rice,” said Gariba.

Ratha Kaibarta who is unable to move due to his chronic sickness lives with his 70-year-old mother and

12- year-old son, Bikesh. The Government hospital is at a distance of 400 metres from his house, but he is not able to get any treatment. Ratha’s wife died three years ago due to prolonged illness.  Bikesh left the school after the death of his mother, but now is interested to join again. The house they live is a 6 ft high dilapidated hut. The old age pension of `300 and the PDS rice given to Ratha’s mother helps the family to sail through their hunger and diseases.

There are more than 25 such fishermen families in this ward who are struggling to live due to loss of their traditional source of livelihood. Without having any alternative, some fishermen like Suresh Kaibarta have migrated to some other places in search of job. “Suresh was here till last year but left the home when his house collapsed in the rain,” said the neighbours. Most of the fishermen families in this settlement don’t have house to live, and some them do not even have homestead land. The people have requested the Government authorities and the politicians for support but no one has listened to their appeal.

Tulsi Ada is another resident of this ward, who is homeless. “When I did not get any support from the Government to reconstruct my collapsed house, I mortgaged my BPL card for `1, 000 to purchase a tarpaulin to make a temporary shed,” said Tulsi. Wife of Tulsi does not react to any of the question asked to her. When she was told to move out of the shed for an interview, she was irritated and said,

“Don’t you have any other job? Why do you repeatedly come here to take our details, because of the vote?”

It is difficult to understand why these destitute families have not been benefited by any of the programmes and schemes running for the poor. Neither the officials of the NAC, nor the elected representatives of the wards have any answer