BY RATNA BHARALI TALUKDAR

The natives of a village in Assam who have been displaced by a nature’s fury have yet to be rehabilitated by the government because they live on “temporary settlements”.

MAKONI PAYENG, 25, belongs to the Mishing tribe, one of the most fascinating plains tribes in Assam. A mother of two, she lives in Majuli, the largest river island in the world. The island is in the midst of the mighty river Brahmaputra, and lies around 350 kilometres from the state capital of Guwahati.

Despite this picturesque description of her hometown, Makoni’s life is not even remotely comparable to any scenic getaway. In fact, she is one of the many victims of nature’s fury and has been repeatedly displaced by a furious river. In 1998, her entire village - Batiamari in the Kamalabari area - in Majuli was washed away by the river. Ever since, Makoni and 47 other tribal families have been compelled to live on a road-cum-embankment along the Kamalabari-Kharisa-khowa gravel road, near their former homes. Deprived of their houses, income-generating agricultural lands and basic civic amenities, penury marks their lives.

“Being uprooted from our original place has made us daily wage earners, from agriculturists,” said Niren Payeng, talking about the impact of the loss of traditional livelihood, “If we do manage to get a job, we earn only Rs. 80 a day but not for more than 10-15 days in a month. Life is very harsh. We find it difficult to even manage a meal each day.”

MAIN SUFFERERS

AS always, women and children are the worst sufferers. Living on the embankment, they are bereft of safe drinking water and sanitation. For all the 47 tribal families on the road, there are only two community tube wells and two ‘pucca’ (constructed) latrines, the initiative of the District Rural Development Agency. Makoni dismisses even these facilities, “The toilets were damaged within two months of their construction. We now use the nearby areas for the purpose. We use the tube wells only for drinking water. For cleaning utensils and clothes, we go to the local ponds.”

On the main Kamalabari road, the sanitation conditions of the around 148 tribal families, living there since 1998, is even worse. According to embankment dweller Jamini Payeng, the three ‘pucca’ latrines - constructed in 2003-04 under the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) - have been constructed in “the most unscientific way, in the midst of this habitation. These toilets have only added to the unhygienic atmosphere of the surroundings.”

Shockingly, even though the year 2008 has been declared the International Year of Sanitation, the plight of the displaced has not received much official redressal. The Total Sanitation Programme (TSP) of the Government of India has yet to reach the island. The Assistant Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering department, Jigen Gogoi, is however reassuring. He says that 13,000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) families - both tribal and non-tribal - have been selected for free access to low cost latrines and that nearly 30 percent of them will be covered within the 2008-09 financial year. He mentioned though that there was no special thrust in favour of the tribals living on the embankments under the TSP. According to him, it would be difficult to bring them under the TSP coverage as they live in temporary settlements.

WARPED PRIORITIES

JAGAT Mahanta, a senior official of the Circle Office, revealed that the admini-stration’s priority is to concentrate on those permanently rehabilitated rather than provide better services to temporary settlements. According to him, 2,400 families, all belonging to the Mishing tribe, have been living on such embankments for years now. Apart from the acute livelihood crisis, the issues of providing basic health services, safe drinking water and sanitation are the big challenges for the administration.

“We arranged a comprehensive rehabilitation scheme for them, providing one bigha of land (7.5 bigha constitutes one hectare) in the Rampur-Bhakatgaon area in south Jorhat district, which is a flood-free region. They were reluctant to settle there permanently. Mishings are an agrarian tribe and they required more land. However, it is difficult for the administration to provide them with sufficient land,” said Mahanta.
Another challenge, he explains, arises out of their traditional lifestyle. The Mishing people have been living on the banks of the river and their entire life, lore, culture, festivals, religion and customs, are deeply connected with river. Also, at least in Majuli, despite living on the embankment, they can cultivate a variety of winter crops, including mustard seeds, peas, onion, garlic and others, as the river dries up in winter providing them vast scope to cultivate on the fertile river bank. This is cited as a major reason for the failure of rehabilitation measures.

SOIL EROSION

ACCORDING to Mahanta, of the 210 revenue villages of the island, only 164 have been spared by the river. Out of the 31,000 on the island, 22,866 families were affected by the 2008 floods. Even the landmass of the island has been reduced alarmingly due to erosion - from 1,256 sq km in 1950 to 514 sq km in 1990. According to a letter written by former Governor of Assam, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Ajay Singh, to the Prime Minister, on June 27, 2007, the rate of erosion is at 7.4 sq km per year. In 1901, the total geographical area was 1,858 miles, with a population of 35,000. While the landmass has been whittled down due to erosion, the increasing population has only added to the worsening situation. According to the 2001 Census, the island now has a total population of 135,000. Today it stands at around 169,000. Mishings comprise almost half the total population.

Mahanta admitted that provision of safe drinking water and sanitation coverage will remain less of a priority until an appropriate rehabilitation scheme in favour of the traditional life of the Mishing people is chalked out. Majuli awaits such a move.

Courtesy: Women’s Feature Service