By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: Even as rest of India celebrated its 65th Republic day with pride but someone like Rahmat Ali in a remote part of Northeast’s Assam has to sit for a hunger strike on the very day for a secured life in future. For Ali and hundred others who were on the strike at Gomafulbari Maddrasa Chowk in Barpeta district on Sunday, it was a matter of their lives as the mass erosion of river Brahmaputra has brought threat to their existence.
Even then, who pays heed to these ill-fated souls, besides they themselves. “We have always been regarded as second class citizen in the country and that’s why we need to sit on a hunger strike on the country’s Republic Day. We are in such a position that we even don’t know whether we will see our tomorrow,” said a frustrated and dejected Ali of Bohori village. Ali, a petty businessman had to shift his house for as many as seven times due to the erosion.
The locals of Gomafulbari area sit on hunger strike.
The plights of these people who have participated in the strike are all the same. Now, they are demanding strict measures from the state government to stop the erosion and rehabilitate the victims of this natural calamity for the last five decades or so. On Sunday, they also submitted a memorandum to Barpeta Deputy Commissioner.
Locals said that altogether more than 75 villages have been washed away by the river Brahmaputra since the Independence affecting more than 25 thousand families. “The situation is getting grim day by day with the government hardly taking any initiative in this regard. So, I hope you can easily understand the situation of these people how they have to struggle for a plot of land for shelter and food to be alive. Because almost all these people are poor,” said Ashraful Hussain, a local youth.
To add worries for these helpless people, some organizations and a section of people harass in the name of Bangladeshi when they go out of their area seeking work and shelter. “It is a serious issue. We have rescued several such people who are residents of the state. When these people go to some other places for their livelihood, some organizations would pick them and brand as Bangladeshi,” said Hafiz Ahmed, president of Char Sapori Sahitya Parishad, a literary body of the state.
Not just these, the erosion has been threat to number of historical centres besides educational institutes and worship places located in the area. A 554 year old Vaishnavite Monastery which is locally called Sattra, a historical wall built by the Swargadeo Shiva Sinha besides number of educational institutes, temples and mosques are facing serious threat from the river.
“If the government does not take immediate action before the arrival of rainy season, the scenario will be unimaginable. We also demand that the state government should compensate the victims,” Hussain added. They also demanded that the victims should be certificated as affected by erosion.