HIVE India helps in rehabilitation of settlers: Kolkata News Line – Indian Express

Kolkata News Line – Indian Express Coverage: It takes a trek through an unheard-of Nonadanga on the southeastern fringes of the city on a chilly January night to realise the doublespeak of the ruling Left Front coalition. And it takes an uneasy juxtaposition of Anil Biswas’s rhetoric and that camp’s silent wailing to unearth the real import of that doublespeak.

As the CPI(M) state committee today protested against the Kalinganagar police firing that killed 14 tribals in Orissa, and the party’s state secretary, Anil Biswas, demanded ‘‘proper rehabilitation’’ of the displaced tribals, Newsline took a walk through the alleys of Nonadanga to look at the ‘‘pro-poor’’ LF government’s resettlement project.

Situated 12 km from the city centre in south-east Kolkata, Nonadanga ‘‘houses’’ the Ballygunge Tollygunge Rail Colony settlement. It’s a place where the residents — 2,000 or so squatters evicted from Railways’ land near Rabindra Sarovar Lake — have to walk for miles to access a medicine shop or the main road.

Their only shelter against the January chill are thin polythene tents. Half-an-hour’s walk from the nearest bus stop on the outskirts of the city, the shrill cry of a 10-month-old infant is the only direction to the camp.

In an 8×10 feet tent, Madhuri Pal lies awake, like every night, taking care of her shivering daughter. The minimum temperature recorded on Thursday was 11.8 degrees Celsius, and the condensed mist dripped from the polythene tent as Madhuri tried to save her tattered bedding and blanket.

‘‘She can’t sleep in this cold winter,’’ Madhuri said, pointing to her daughter. ‘‘I really don’t know how long we can survive like this.’’
Madhuri had decided not to attend Friday’s mammoth rally in the heart of Kolkata, addressed by CPI(M) leaders Biman Bose and Anil Biswas, demanding justice for tribals displaced by a steel project at Orissa’s Kalinganagar.

She does not understand why the CPI(M) Politburo demands that the Orissa government and the Centre take immediate steps to rehabilitate the tribals, but are not bothered about the resettlement of squatters like her right under their noses.

‘‘This is what the government called proper rehabilitation — only one polythene sheet,’’ fumed Samar Bhowmick, another resident at Nonadanga. ‘‘Most of the males here are daily labourers and earn Rs 50 a day. It is impossible for us to build a home on our own.’’
The State Government has just provided 10 acres of land and two tube wells. There are about 278 tents, placed in horizontal and vertical lines with an open-air kitchen in which a deep hole on the ground serves as a hearth.

Every night, a few people fall ill and have to be aken to a hospital with the help of a local NGO. ‘‘Most of them are children or old people suffering from cold and bronchial troubles. What aggravates the health issue is lack of sanitation and clean bathing water,’’ said Nitaidas Mukherjee, assistant director of Hive India, an NGO working for the settlers.