Exploring Chargheri and Bidhan Colony

In most of our earlier visits we barely found time to distribute the food and rush back for the return journey. This time Debajyoti da and myself snatched ourselves out of the distribution and tried to carry out a survey to assess some of the ground realities as on date.

This exercise took us to some new localities in Chargheri and Bidhan Colony. Sharing with you some snaps and videos of these places (links in red):

People working on earthwork for the bund
These people are cutting earth from the spoiled agricultural lands to build up / repair the bunds. I hope that is advisable to be done on agricultural land, and does not damage long term prospects of the productivity of this .

Hopefully we will see them cultivating alternative crops on these fields this coming winter after due training. Certainly the normal crop, rice, is set to return within 2 years. Now does this earth cutting from surface of these fields hurt any or both of those prospects? I wish I knew...

A shot of Chargheri on our way to Kakmari Bazar
[not much to add to that snap - we have earlier published a number of pix like that one]

House damaged by Aila but saved from collapse due to presence of 'konchi' (bamboo) reinforcement in mud walls
We found only two "pucca" buildings on the route from distribution point to Kakmari bazar which was close to 2 km away from distribution point (We made this journey via an unpaved and undulating dyke where walking barefoot can cause foot pain to unaccustomed feet - ask me!). None of these were residential houses. We saw evidence that water had reached above window top level in many of the intact houses. The houses that had bamboo stick (‘konchi’) reinforcement in walls managed to keep standing (even after mud was washed away) via support from the bamboo sticks. This house (in above pic) with ‘reinforced walls’ told the story clearly: in the picture we can see that the ‘konchi’s are showing up to man height with no mud around them – and ABOVE it the konchi’s are disappearing into mud still left intact.

Some of the standing houses have been repaired back with thatched roof and applying mud back on the walls. The houses that had walls of pure mud are all erased.

"Aise ujde aashiyaane tinke ud gaye"
This is how some of the occupants of those erased houses are living now.
They are literally living on the road....

The boundary point of Chargheri and Bidhan Colony
[hope that fishing net used as a fence is not the administration's brainchild while marking the boundary...]

The primary school located OUTSIDE the old bund

The old bund near this school was seriously damaged but the school would have been inundated in Aila even if the bund were intact. This primary school in Bidhan Colony is strangely outside of the main bund / dyke and it is at quite a low level as well. In other words, it was always exposed to forces of nature and tidal variations as the bund does NOT protect it.

This omission of a government primary school outside bund premise may look like a surprising flaw in layout of the bund, but we need to remember that pieces of land keep surfacing in these areas every year due to silting. It is quite possible that this school is located in a land area that surfaced AFTER construction of bund. It can (un)safely be expected that there are many such areas across these region. Hopefully the new 'Ring bund', currently under construction, will bring these buildings within the ambit of safety.

The new "Ring Bund" under construction
[This picture is taken facing the river and the old bund is behind the photographer Debu da when this picture was taken. We can see the primary school being covered by this new ring bund.
This video, shot from atop the old bund, shows the above photograph being taken and also indicates the topography near the school]

Bund damage near Kakmari bazar southside approach
[The above video, along with this snap by Debu da, bears testimony of the magnitude of nature's fury faced by these bunds on 25th May 2009. Even after nearly 3 months of restoration work the bund still looks like having been hit by a disaster in very recent past. ]


Kakmari bazar
PAKT discussing with people at Kakmari bazar
Kakmari bazar video 1
Kakmari bazar video 2

On the return journey from Kakmari to distribution point, we met Shri Girindranath Paik and Shri Ajit Kumar Biswas. Both are from Chargheri.

Girindranath Paik is a familiar face at relief distribution (he generally has something to say or some request to make). We met him on the way back and he dragged me to his house. Apparently the water logged lands seen behind the hutments in this snap are land belong to him.

Ajit Kumar Biswas' story is a little intriguing. Ajit is apparently a graduate who has not managed to get a coveted government job. He has a small piece of land and used to cultivate it before Aila. But the returns from his small piece of land were insufficent to support his young . He used to supplement his income by giving tuitions. Even Rabindranath Gayen, the respected primary school teacher of Bidhan Colony that we met during survey at Kakmari bazar, used to be his student. He is apparently well liked by people (certainly by Girindranath Paik) and also does some book keeping for shops. He wished to opt out of the area if he gets a job outside, as both his vocations have stopped now. He stays in a makeshift hutment reconstructed from his damaged mudhut. Like many other families, both he and his wife do menial labour on earthwork related to bund repair these days in order to sustain themselves.

Ajit brought me up to the fact that the dewatering of fields has taken place only at specific areasm lostly near the periphery of the island (we used to see it happen at our distribution point) but many fields in the interiors are still flooded with brackish water. The small sluice gate does not help at all as it prevents effective flushing out of the brackish water in a heavy rainfall.

Critical concern: We have requested assistance from PRISM in order to arrange for alternative crop training in fields damaged by brackish water with an aim to have some vegetables grown on these fields by this winter. We are driving to expedite this training. But the least that is required for some of these farmers we are trying to help is the stagnated brackish water to be removed from their fields. We are talking to people related to administration but we still do not know how to solve that critical first part (i.e. dewatering agricultural lands that are still under water) in our attempt to get these people back on fields.

6th Trip to Chargheri: In pictures and videos

Links to pictures and videos are provided in chronological order:

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#5375446011467016354
[A tentative route sketch of our journey from Sonakhali to Chargheri, also indicating the major landmarks along the route - satellite pic courtesy google maps]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpzl9mLQfyA
[Video: A view of the dyke at Sonakhali 'ghat', and approach to the 'ghat']

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#5374731255912742002
[Stillpic: Our boat is seen here leaving the Sonakhali ghat after getting loaded with 480 kg of 'kochu' (arum) and 2800 kg rice. We had also taken 150 packets containing 100 gms of soyabean each, meant for each family with a child less than six years. Kaustuv and I stay back at Sonakhali to guide Bappa, the new Sumo driver of this trip, to Gadkhali where the Sumo will be parked.]

Anecdote: Qutub, the boatman, left his assistants to take care the boat and took the trip to Gadkhali with us in the car. I found him closely watching Bappa operating the gears of our Tata Sumo. When I enquired if he (Qutub) wished to learn driving a car by visual inspection, Kaustuv observed that operating a boat had criticalities like knowing exactly about the size of the whole thing and where the tail was going, especially while bringing to the shore. This was enough to open up Qutub, who declared that he could learn driving a car in 2 weeks. We nodded, politely noting that the hard part was to do it at places like Kolkata's Esplanade or Lalbazar at 11 am on a weekday.

Well versed though Qutub might be in operating a much bigger piece of mobile equipment in croc infested waters on the outskirts of tiger territory, he still does not get overtaken in narrow stretches by speeding boats simultaneously on both sides with a few millimeters as clearances....and get a few glares from the left side overtaker for not 'giving way'! Nor is Qutub used to seeing a guy suddenly put a hand up towards him (meaning "please halt"....make it "halt") and nonchalantly cross his path assuming the driver will be able to halt irrespective of speed.

Bappa did not respond to Qutub's comment, but all along the boat trip to Chargheri he too kept watching the operational aspects of Qutub's boat right up to Chargheri. Perhaps he too was finding out a way to learn boating in 15 days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alyuKWRaSpg
[Video: Approach to the Gadkhali ferry ghat, and a glimpse of the high tide water level]

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#5374731285262063410
[Stillpic: hightide at Gadkhali]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5uQ5gKtu1c
[Video: Boat reaches Gadkhali to pick up Kaustuv and myself. It takes 20-25 minutes from Sonakhali to Gadkhali by road but the boat takes close to an hour]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373605670229477010
[Stillpic: Dr. Susanta Bhattacharya, also called Santo da, seen here at the top deck of the boat near the sacks of arum]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373605733636553906
[Stillpic: 2800 kg of rice loaded in our boat.
Disclaimer: the stamp of 'Pather Katha - ATMA - Khelaghar' was included in the soft file - the sack really did not have that stamp, but it is a nice illusion!!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppmq-5As-W4
[Video: Captain Qutub gets off the boat, letting his assistants complete the balance 85% of the trip!]

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#5374731347832181714 [Stillpic: Purbasha carrying out the rice unloading operation, as is the usual practice on every visit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZiwIo5Z2-k
[Video: Sanyasi Mandal was one of the trainees to receive Unicef training on ORT solution at Dhamakhali on the 16th of August. He describes the training as 'fruitful' here. Unfortunately the supply of solution from Unicef is yet to materialise.]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373605807814162738
[Stillpic: This time we noticed that people arriving early had reserved their position in the queue with bags!

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#537544137897241339
[Stillpic: Rice stacked at distribution point ahead of start of distribution]

http://picasaweb.google.com/angshu2909/ChargheriTrip6PixCellcam#5374731414299539314
[Stillpic: Distribution starts, and the cards are out]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUwzkl4qV0U
[Video: Doctor (Santo da) moving to the boat in order to take stock of medicines and to flag off the medical camp]

Annoucement 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRoLTS-n01w
Annoucement 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpOC5QE2I20
Annoucement 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBGD7Bjn7o
[Video: Kaustuv made 3 sets of annoucement with the megaphone, for which we have added links above.
Announcement 1: Kaustuv shared with the people in the queue the plans of PAKT in the coming weeks - essentially that relief will be stopped after a month;s time, and that each village needs to offer volunteers to carry forward our attempts to rehabilitate them by facilitating various trainings (e,g, training on alternative crops on saline soil, training on other alternative employent options like handicraft.)
Announcement 2: Kaustuv announces that PAKT, mainly through efforts of partner Khelaghar, will look to rehabilitate some families by placing some villagers in hotel jobs across the state.
Announcement 3: The distribution is done at 2 ends of the distribution camp. Some villages are lined up at the North end and some others at the South end. On all previous occasions we found a few cases where people had waited an hour or more at the wrong queue. Kaustuv declares the names of villages that will be covered by each queue.]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373606290281699698
[Stillpic: Biswajit da and Kausik (my Foster Wheeler colleague who joined the team this week) carry out card checks for the 1st point of distribution]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDVHeoe3Gk
[Video: Distribution being carried out at 1st point of distribution through card system]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373606358093988210
[Stillpic: Kaustuv and Saptarshi (not in picture) carry out card checks for the 2nd point of distribution]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItNvl1T9MYQ
[Video: Distribution being carried out at 2nd point of distribution through card system]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkJNMIZhJ9s
[Video: Bappa sets his boating skill development aside and spontaneously joins in to help the distribution]

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaustuvlive/SunderbanAilaReliefWorkPhaseVI#5373606450658531298
[Stillpic: Santo da running the medical camp on Purbasha boat. His marathon sitting would go on till past 6-30 pm]

[Pics and videos related to survey carried out on 6th visit are appended to the earlier post listing subjects attempted to be covered in that survey]

Doctor on 6th trip: Dr. Santo-da joins us

His full name is Dr. Susanta Bhattacharya. He is universally known as Santo da to people who know him, and he does not mind us calling him by that name at all.

Santo-da joined in as a friend of Debajyoti-da who wished to assist our effort. He took to the trip like the proverbial fish (or duck) did to water. He was kind enough to sit through nearly 4 hours and untiringly check all the patients (more than 100) attending this week's medical camp with various complaints. He also did some sorting work on the stocked medicines. Thanks to Santo da's contribution to the sixth trip, we are now satisfied to a degree that the medicines stocked by us so far at Chargheri during previous visits was properly distributed.

There is further scope of improvement in sorting & supplementing the medical stocks. We will need help from Debajyoti da and Santo da for it.

At a more opportune moment, I would like to put up a post exclusively on Santo da (with inputs from Debajyoti da, as I only know him for a day). Let me tell you that he is a man of many parts.

Topics covered by survey carried out in 6th visit

• To assess further need for relief
• To assess if the distribution process was acceptable to people
• To assess needs of people for the coming months outside of food
• To assess impact of Aila on people’s livelihood
• To list common professions practiced in the area before Aila
• To list options available to earn a living after Aila
• To assess impact of Aila on infrastructure
• To assess receptiveness of people to alternative professions and to obtaining training for alternative earning options

UPDATE: SOME VIDEOS RELATED TO SURVEY

Debajyoti da's conversation with an earthwork labourer who used to cultivate land before Aila

"On the walk" Survey - part 1 of 5

"On the walk" Survey - Part 2 of 5

"On the walk" Survey - Part 3 of 5

"On the walk" Survey - Part 4 of 5

"On the walk" Survey - Part 5 of 5

6th visit: Food distribution and survey

PAKT completed the 6th trip to Chargheri last Saturday (22nd August). We distributed 1 kg of rice per head for a fortnight to the selected families of the 5 villages. We also distributed 100 gms of soyabeans to families having children aged less than six years. Like previous (5th) visit, we again provided a piece of arum (kochu) to each of these families.

In addition to distributing food during this visit, we also carried out a survey on a few pre-identified issues related to PAKT activity at Chargheri-Bidhan Colony-Santgachhi-Porosmoni-Lahiripur.

Purpose of survey:

(a) Assessing the effectiveness of our past effort at providing relief and

(b) Carrying out some ground work for the future months in which we intend to withdraw food relief but assist these people in more specific ways to get started at rehabilitating themselves, as far as our (significant) limitations permit.

The sample of people selected was not enough considering the short period (3 hours) we got to carry it out, but we believe we still get a representative assessment.

Summary of findings

The survey does not throw up any dramatic findings as such, and generally supports the expected. For last 2 visits we have been letting people know that we intend to withdraw food relief from end of September. This time we again announced the same at the distribution and also tried to spread the word individually during the survey. It was heartening to find that most people were supporting us to withdraw relief in the near future and instead assist them to get back to earning their own living if possible.

The subjects of survey and its outcomes are compiled into a detailed survey report. We are ready to share it with anyone willing to go through that detailed report.

Volunteers

Before distribution we put forward an important request to each of the 5 villages to facilitate implementing our future plans for these people: we requested that some of their villagers must now come forward and enlist themselves as volunteers for their respective villages. This is essential to provide smooth knowledge transfer via various vocational / self-employment trainings we intend to provide to people of these villages in coming months.

The volunteers are intended to be the direct link between the experts providing the training (PRISM / other NGO's / other sources) and the villagers that intend to implement this training for self-benefit, without any 3rd party bottleneck formation. [For example, we will endeavour to push and get each of these programs started the first time, but if subsequent communication keeps happening through us who visit so sporadically then we can become bottleneck instead of facilitator]

Update: The picture-cum-video story of the 6th visit is overdue. Apologies to all for inadvertent delay. We request you to check up on the snaps of 6th visit at the Picasa sites of Kaustuv and myself....while we put together something to take you to the live action of 6th trip.