Their hard time not over

Pressed against dire poverty, indigenous families at Madarpur village in Gobindaganj of Gaibandha yesterday received relief from the district administration though they had initially refused to accept aid without having their demands met.

Gobindaganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abdul Hannan distributed 150 packages of relief materials including rice, edible oil, salt and potato. Thirty sets of books were also given to children who had lost their study materials along with other belongings when their houses on a disputed land of Rangpur Sugar Mills in Shahebganj were set ablaze on November 6.

Upon discussions with Roads, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Adivasi leaders of the Shahebganj-Bagdafarm land recovery movement committee agreed to receive relief, said Deputy Commissioner of Gaibandha Abdus Samad.

Earlier, the Santal community said they would not accept any help from the administration until they were given back the land of their forefathers.

Meanwhile, at a programme at his ministry, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the government would build homes for the indigenous people in Gaibandha, who had become homeless after the eviction drive. 

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given an order to build houses for them,” he said, adding that homeless Santals would be rehabilitated under a government project of providing shelter to the homeless.

Describing the eviction as an unlawful act, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, also special envoy to the PM, demanded that the government rehabilitate the Santals as early as possible.

The Santals live hand-to-mouth and they are poorer of the poor, he said while talking to reporters yesterday in his hometown Rangpur.

Some alternative arrangements should have been made for the Adivasis before evicting them from the land, he added.

The relief materials supplied by the administration were inadequate and so many families were disappointed not to have got aid, said Rafayel Hasda, treasurer of Maderpur Bhumi Uddher Committee.

The DC said more relief would be sent for the distressed Santal families.

Asked what made them change their mind, Rafayel said, “We [Adivasi leaders] decided to receive relief after discussions with the community people.”

The evicted Santal families are still in fear and so they are not leaving their villages even for work, said Elikha Mardi, a Santal woman.

“We are waiting and hoping that the government will meet our reasonable demands for rehabilitation and work,” said Juna Todo of Madarpur.

On November 6, police fired and lobbed teargas shells during an eviction drive at the Shahebganj sugarcane farm leaving two Santals killed and several others injured. Protesting the eviction, Santals at the time shot arrows at police and mill labourer injuring 25 people, including policemen.

Meanwhile, teachers and students of Jahangirnagar University at a press conference demanded that the Santal community be given back the land acquired by the deputy commissioner's office for the then Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation, which established Rangpur Sugar Mills between 1954 and 1957.