No rehabilitation yet in worst-hit Koyra, Shyamnagar
Hundreds of victims of the cyclone Aila in the worst affected areas of Koyra and Dacope in Khulna and Shyamnagar in Satkhira are still living in roadside shacks as the authorities have neither completed repairs in the badly-damaged embankments nor released funds for construction of houses.
Sufferings of these coastal people multiplied on the advent of winter in early December with various diseases spreading in the affected areas due to scarcity of safe water.
Locals in Gabura union under Shyamnagar upazila which was battered by Aila in 2009 said that they could return to their homesteads now if they get the money allocated by the government for each affected family.
They alleged that conflict between a local lawmaker and the chairman of Gabura union parishad, an area on the periphery of Sundarban, had delayed the release of funds – Tk 20,000 for each family – among the worst affected people for building houses.
‘I along with my husband and six children have been living in this shack since May, 2009 in inhuman conditions. We have opened a bank account but did not get any money to return to our homestead lost in the Aila,’ said Momtaz, 45, of Gabura.
She said her 60-year old husband could not do hard work due to old-age complications and as a result she could hardly make both ends meet. Momtaz, who sometimes works as a day labourer, has no financial capacity to build a house. ‘We have no choice but to stay on the road in this winter.’
SM Sirajul Islam, Gabura union parishad member, said around 1,000 families out of 8,300 affected by Aila in the area were still living in roadside shanties.
He said the union was also affected by devastating cyclone Sidr in 2007. ‘The people here are very poor. They have lost everything and cannot return to their homes although saline water has receded in many places.’
The government has distributed cheques for a total of
Tk 96 crore among 48,000 Aila-hit families in Khulna and Satkhira for their rehabilitation.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on July 23 inaugurated the distribution of cheques at two separate rallies in Koyra and Shyamnagar and declared that all the affected people would get the money for house construction by July 31.
‘We are aware of the sufferings of the Aila victims and taking steps so that they get the money for construction of houses soon,’ food and disaster management minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque told New Age on Sunday.
He, however, said that the lawmaker of Satkhira 4 constituency, HM Golam Reza, had filed a writ with the High Court against the list of victims prepared by the army with the help of local government representatives.
Abdur Razzaque, also responsible for overall coordination of the rehabilitation work in the affected areas, said that the army was engaged in work to expedite the repairs of the damaged embankment by January 2011.
HM Golam Reza alleged that the list of victims prepared by the army with the assistance of the union parishad chairman was full of anomalies. ‘I filed a petition against the list with the High Court as it was influenced by the UP chairman.’
Gabura union parishad chairman GM Shafiul Azam Lenin rejected the allegation saying that the army-prepared list was flawless. The matter, he hoped, would be settled soon as the High Court was going to hear the petition in January.
The locals said that they had approached the bank officials concerned several times but they said the banks would begin disbursing the funds as soon as the administration gives the green light.
According to local administrations, some 27,400 families in Koyra, 10,600 in Dacope and 9500 in Shyamnagar upazilas were listed for allocation of Tk 20,000 to each family through bank accounts and accordingly the families listed as the worst victims opened the accounts with Tk 10 each with different bank branches in the upazilas.
The local administration and local government representatives primarily prepared lists of the Aila victims. But later, the army with the help of local representatives made fresh lists after further scrutiny which also drew criticism.
Md Abdur Rashid, 60, of village Majher Ait of Koyra upazila, said he, along with nine others of his family, had been living in a makeshift structure at his homestead and struggling to save themselves from muddy water.
‘I, after being listed, opened a bank account with Tk10 with the Koyra branch of Sonali Bank in July but I am yet to get the money. They (bank officials) said that they were awaiting directives from the administration to distribute the funds,’ he said.
A senior officer of the Sonali Bank’s Koyra branch said the funds for the Aila-affected families in the area had already been deposited with the bank.
Upazila nirbahi officer of Koyra Md Abul Basar told New Age that the money would be distributed on completion of the embankment repairs so that the fund for construction of houses was not misused.
He, however, said that repair of embankment at Mothbaria village point remained a big challenge for the water development board.
The prime minister in March ordered deployment of army in the worst-affected areas that include Dacope, Koyra, Ashashuni and Shyamnagar upazilas, reportedly against the backdrop of slow pace in the work of embankment repairs by the Water Development Board. Only 500 families in Ashashuni had received the money for house construction, said local representatives.
The people still living on the embankments and roads in Koyra fear they might not be able to return to their homesteads lost in the water.
They said that more areas could come under water permanently as some narrow canals by the riverside embankments engulfed more lands with some breaches going beyond repair due to lack of timely action. They forecast the water level would be higher in the next rainy season as the tidal water was rising even in winter.
A number of victims in Koyra said that the water was again intruding in their roadside shacks.
‘Our miseries know no bound as children and elderly people are feeling the bite of cold. We have no shelter… There is saline water everywhere… There is no greenery, no agriculture and no dry land,’ said Abdul Mazid, 40 of Koyra Sadar.
Once a farmer, Mazid is now a day labourer. He said the poor and the rich of the area had now become equal after Aila had pounded the coastal belt.
At least 190 people were killed, scores injured, large tracts of cropland damaged and several thousand houses were totally or partially damaged when the cyclone Aila lashed the south-western coastal areas on May 25, 2009.
According to official records, around 1.5 lakh people belonging to 48,000 families were worst hit in Dacope, Koira, Ashashuni and Shyamnagar.
