3,000 bodies buried up to Monday
Spared no pain to rise to the occasion. The problems of accommodation, sanitation and relief to these people were simply enormous and a lion’s share of Government employees in the district were pressed into service to tackle the Herculean task Gradually all possible steps for the shelter of the refugees in 37 camps were taken.
In spite of all these efforts, about 80 deaths take place in different camps every day according to a high district official. These deaths are due to cholera extreme exhaustion and starvation. Many deaths attributed to cholera are suspected to be due to gastro-enterite.
About 3,000 bodies were buried up to Monday in a scheme of mass burial. The officials said all these deaths were due to cholera. To convey the magnitude of the task to bury the bodies he said 900 bodies had been buried by five ‘doms’ in three days. Besides this, about 300 bodies were littered in the Karimpur area alone. Local volunteers played an important part in burying these bodies.
Cholera wards were opened in 14 hospitals and health centers in which about 5,950 patients were admitted of whom 1,000 died.
To fight the spread of cholera the authorities have extensive plans for inoculation against it. Arrangement for inoculation has been made in almost all the camps. Five teams of Army doctors are working in Shikarpur. Betai Tehatta and Chakra. Thirty two inoculators of Calcutta Corporation have been sent to Nakashipara. Krishnagar, Hanskhali and Ranaghat.
Besides this, Oxfam doctors have got down to work with two jet inoculators. Each of these jet automatic syringes can inoculate about 800 persons in one hour. Oxfam doctors have started work in the Kalyan area and five other camps accommodating about 140,000 people.
The authorities have particularly emphasized the need for saving the people from starvation deaths. Rice was being distributed to people in 37 camps and also through nine distribution centers. Refugees, who used to get rice only, were given dal, oil and salt from Tuesday.
Tubewells have been sunk at each camp to ensure supply of drinking water. Usually one tubewell has been earmarked for the use of 500 persons. Some temporary latrines have also been constructed. But these are not sufficient.
As we drove from Krishnanagar to Shikarpur we found innumerable sharks made of ‘hogla’ leaves in which people live in a deplorable condition, Innumerable men, women and children bagged and emaciated were on their way to Krishnagar with their meager belongings in the hope of finding a better shelter. Many families were moving in bullock carts which were also used as their temporary dwelling huts. On the way there was a big mango grove in which were parked about 300 such bullock cart dwelling huts. Quite a good number of people took shelter in the lawns of wayside schools and temples and in houses and under big trees along the road. Hopeless people were also found to cook their food with scanty resources by the side of the road.
Stray bodies surrounded by dogs and vultures are a common sight along Shikarpur Road. Refugees on their trek to safer places cover their noses and mouths whenever any cholera patient or a decomposed body happens to be by the side of the road.
The cares and anxiety suffered by the refugees have hardened their feeling which is evident from the callous treatment of the bodies of their relatives or friends of course their indigent state is no less responsible for this During my interviews with several local residents I was told that a 16-years-old boy did not recognize the body of his mother lest he might have to hear the expenses of her funeral rites. When people challenged that the body was that of his mother he consistently denied but silently shed tears. Another body was stripped of its clothes by the relatives who could not afford to part with these on account of extreme paucity of clothes. A dead child was thrown by her father into a roadside bush from a running lorry. All these were due to the fact that their feelings of affection had been dried up by constant cares and anxiety in the past few days and the prospect of an uncertain future.
The suffering of the refugees in Jaba, Paninala, Bhanderskhola Palashinara, Bannia hazar and other camps beggar description. The recent rains have made the ground muddy and slushy. The shacks of hogla are quite inadequate to protect them from rain and gusty winds. People wait for a long time in queues to draw their daily ration in knee-deep mud.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 09.06.1971