They build country but starve in disaster

Desperate to earn a living... Women weavers displaced by the deluge are working on their tools on the Nagarbari road near Shahjadpur. PHOTO: STAR

At Kaliakoir, heavy vehicles drove through about two feet water but smaller ones were stranded. Some youths came with polythene bags. They wrapped silencer pipes of vehicles with polythene bags as a protection from water and then pushed those across 100 metres and realised Tk 100 from each.

Further down the road from the Jamuna Bridge, the river looked enraged.

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Half of Sirajganj town was under knee deep water. Only rickshaws plied.

At the Deputy Commissioner's office, about 400 flood victims from low-lying areas of the town occupied half of the office block. Officials were in trouble with the uninvited guests, trying to pursue them to move to a school. But the victims refused.

The reason was known later. Sources in the administration claimed that the chairman of the flood effected area, a local BNP leader, was at loggerheads with a party central leader and minister. So he asked them to keep occupying the DC's office.

As we drove, more horrifying scenes appeared. About half of the 30-kilometer Sirajganj-Kazipur road was washed away. Thousands of people, having lost everything, took shelter on the remaining part.

A day before the Daily Star team arrived in Sirajganj, the Prime Minister and her entourage had visited some affected areas there. The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Sirajganj, having failed to provide an information on time to an official of the PM's entourage, was made OSD on grounds of "public interest". The incident shook the local administration.

Officials worked overtime for relief operations and to make sure good quality ration reached the flood victims. The DC office maintained hourly information on flood situation and displayed it on boards.

The flood victims on the Kazipur Road said each one of them got five kilograms of rice.

As this correspondent's vehicle crossed a small bridge at Dakatiapara, some workers were seen dumping sandbags in the water. Strong current flowing under the bridge dangerously threatened its foundations on both ends.

While returning towards Sirajganj about an hour later on the same road, hundreds of villagers were seen struggling to save the bridge from being washed away.

Half of the road was already washed away, barely six feet still remaining. A split second decision had to be made whether to cross the bridge or remain stranded on the Kazipur Road.

Within seconds after the vehicle crossed the broken road and climbed the bridge, gushing water washed away the road.

Shahajadpur upazila, about 30 kilometers from Sirajganj town, was the worst hit area in the district. All the thirteen unions in the upazila were under water with dwellings were completely submerged in some remote areas.

The Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) said that the ferocity of Jamuna river is increasing every year.

"We are allocating relief, mainly rice, through the chairmen and members," said the UNO.

Chairmen of several unions were at the UNO office to collect their share of relief. Ziaul Haque, Chairman of Narina Union Parishad, said the biggest problem in his union was unemployed weavers. He said up to 2,500 weavers were facing starvation as there was no work.

As soon as the mechanised boat carrying the Daily Star team entered Koizuri union, about 25 kilometers from Shahjatpur, men and women from their rooftop shelters started swimming towards it, thinking that relief had arrived. The entire village was under water. They said they had not received any aid whatsoever.

Raimon Begum, about 70, was sitting on top of her tin shed roof when this correspondent went to the village in a trawler. She hesitated for a moment and then descended into the water and started swimming toward the trawler with a bowl that floated on the water.

She came near and pleaded, " Bajan (my son) please give me something, I have not eaten for two days." Her eyes hollow, she looked exhausted. Like Raimon Begum, dozens of others looked on as the trawler moved in the village.

"Most people in this village are skilled weavers who earned daily wages but they have no work for about a month", said chairman of the union, Golam Rasul Peter.

Though Golam Rasul claimed to have distributed 18 tons of rice among flood victims in his union, none in Koizuri asked by this correspondent said he received any relief.

"I told the elected members of my union not to indulge in any irregularity in relief distribution. This incentive from me would encourage them to be fair," said Golam Rasul.

On the Nagarbari Road, several thousand people took shelter under makeshift thatched structures. Maidan Ali, a weaver from Ullapara, looked for loan in a bazaar on the main road. He told this correspondent that he was on the roadside for two weeks and spent his last penny the day before.

"Now I am looking for a loan but they do not even want to give me 100 grams of chilies on credit," Maidan said.