Refugees bounce back the cheques

Disgusted by the pittance being handed out, riot victims reject the government's token compensation.

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Ahmedabad

Noorbanu Sheikh is in a peculiar dilemma today. After waiting two months for compensation for her broken home, she doesn’t know whether she should encash the cheque or return it to the government. Her house was totally destroyed when a mob went on a rampage in Bismillah nagar at Vatva in Ahmedabad. But all she got was Rs 500 to reconstruct her broken home, a mere 0.5 per cent of all she has lost. “In a month, the monsoon will start. How will we stay in the relief camp then? We want to rebuild our home, but the government hasn’t given us enough to even buy a tin sheet,” says Noobanu. “We left with nothing but the clothes on our backs. No one will even give us a loan.” After Noorbanu and others in the Jehangir nagar relief camp at Vatva received paltry sums as housing compensation, refugees refused government cheques the next time they were being distributed. Of the 300-odd families here, only 23 have received housing compensation.

Refugees’ hopes of returning home grow dimmer as Gujarat’s violence continues and the government’s half-hearted rehabilitation measures provide no real support. The prime minister A.B. Vajpayee’s efforts to reassure the riot-affected during his visit to Gujarat a month ago came rather late - 35 days after the violence began. His promises regarding relief and rehabilitation have not yet been properly implemented by the state government. The only time chief minister Narendra Modi visited a Muslim relief camp was when he trailed the prime minister during his brief tour of Gujarat on April 4th. This reflects the priority his government has given to the relief and rehabilitation of the state’s 1.5 lakh-odd refugees.

During his visit, the prime minister had promised the following rehabilitation measures for refugees:

The families of those killed would be paid Rs 1,00,000 from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, in addition to the Rs 50,000 each being given to the affected families by the state government.
Those who had suffered permanent disability in the violence would be given Rs 50,000.
Housing rehabilitation in rural areas would be Rs 15,000 for those whose homes are partially damaged and Rs 50,000 for those whose homes are completely destroyed. In urban areas, the centre would bear the cost of reconstruction estimated after carrying out a comprehensive survey.
The Centre would bear the entire cost of rehabilitation of all orphans and widows.
All children in relief camps would be provided one set of textbooks and school uniforms.
Free ration of 35 kg two months for families living below poverty line in violence-hit areas.

Most families of those killed haven’t received compensation because they are unable to produce any proof of the death, says Mohsin Kadri, organiser of the Shah Alam relief camp, the largest in Ahmedabad, sheltering 13,000 refugees. He points out that only seven of the 131 families in Shah Alam camp who are eligible for compensation have received cheques for Rs 40,000. They are also supposed to get an additional Rs 70,000 in the form of government bonds. However, this doesn’t still add up to the Rs 1,50,000 promised by the government. Yet, Ahmedabad collector Srinivas insists that his administration has paid compensation to 206 cases all over the city and only 37 families are yet to be paid. He adds that people paid compensation earlier, before the compensation package was increased, will be paid the additional amount due to them.

Housing compensation has been pathetic in both urban and rural areas. In every camp in Ahmedabad, people complain about the underestimation of their property. “Most people have got cheques for Rs 2,000-3,000. No one here has received more than Rs 14,000 as compensation, which is only a small fraction of the actual value of their houses and belongings,” says a camp organiser at Vatva. In rural Gujarat, the situation is no better. In Bamanwad village, Panchmahal district, Ganibahi Khatri’s house was razed to the ground but he received only Rs 23,075 as compensation, instead of the Rs 50,000 promised by the PM. Around 27 Muslim families in this village are sleeping in the fields after their houses were burned and badly damaged, but only seven people have received compensation. The government has not even agreed to recognise the relief camp here. Hindu neighbours have been helping with food for the past two months.

In the cities, the poorest have been stranded within the ghettoes due to the curfew. Mostly casual labourers, they have been without work for the past two months. The PM had promised 35 kg of free rations for those below the poverty. But these have yet to arrive in the ration shops. Ahmedabad collector Srinivas says that the government has increased the allotment to 70 kg and the new stocks will be available in May. However, many may still be excluded because of the ridiculous criteria for deciding those below the poverty line.

No action has yet been taken on the PM’s promises regarding the rehabilitation of orphans and widows. Children in the camps were not even given text books and uniforms, as announced. In fact, some school children studying in Baroda’s private schools could not sit for their exams because their parents did not have the money to pay their fees.

Every family in the relief camps was supposed to receive a cash dole of Rs 1,250 to compensate for the loss of immediate belongings like clothes and shoes. The government suddenly woke up and started distributing the dole just a day before the PM was scheduled to visit. Distribution of the dole at the Dariya Khan Ghummat camp in Shahibaug, Ahmedabad was stopped half-way, when the PM decided against visiting the camp. Only half of the of the camp’s 1100-odd families received the dole. Even in the Shah Alam camp, dole cheques disappeared the minute the PM left. Only 1,400 of the camp’s 2,200 families received the dole. Some people like Noorbanu in Vatva were not even given the full amount, although it is mandatory.

Forgot fulfilling the PM’s promises, the government has not even adequately provided basic facilities like tents, fans or toilets. The Shah Alam camp has 38 toilets for 13,000 people. This, after the toilets were installed a day before the PM’s visit. With the temperatures reaching 45 degrees celsius, the illnesses are also on the rise. “Government doctors are not regular and their medication is not effective. We have to call private doctors to the camp as well,” says Kadri. In the Surendranagar camp, Ahmedabad, the government arbitrarily reduced the number of refugees from 4000 to 2200. Accordingly, supplies have also been reduced. “After distributing housing compensation, the government officials stopped counting the people to whom cheques have been issued as camp inmates. These people cannot still go back to their homes. There are still attacks on the streets everyday. But the government refuses to provide for them anymore,” says Farukhbhai Pathan, a camp organiser.

It may still be a long road home for people like Noorbanu, if the Gujarat government continues to rehabilitate people in the manner it has done so upto now.


Frontline, May 11-24, 2002 Also available here