By TCN News,
West Bengal: The habitats of Sunderban Island region and the Bankura Forest are perhaps the most remote areas of the rural Bengal. The lack of connectivity makes this region inaccessible and its impoverished population the most isolated poor of the nation.
Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC), a US-based dedicated humanitarian organization through its sister association Sahayata Trust, Hyderabad has taken the uphill task of distributing the Ramadan food ration to the impoverished and isolated poor families of the rural West Bengal and with its dedicated network of volunteers succeeded in executing its Ramadan feeding program, bringing a ray of hope and happiness in the holy month.
In Sunderban Island Region and in the Bankura District Forest area Muslim population is minimal, and due to their low numbers they are often been neglected from the community charity map, even though its habitants are one of the most needy persons in India.
IMRC conducted a survey in this remote region and targeted villages for the implementation of the feeding program where the most deserving families reside. “The main criteria was to find villages with Muslim families who are doing work of physical labor and are fasting butand cannot afford more than a single meal in a day,” said Mr. Zaidul Haque, a senior journalist based in Kolkata, and local IMRC volunteer.
A single Ramadan Ration Kit includes items such as Rice, Mustard Oil, Dates, Sugar, Chickpea, Puffed Rice, Potato, Chllli, Salt, Onion and Turmeric. It is calculated and weighted in a manner to make it sustainable for a family of four for the whole month of Ramadan.
Through their painstaking work IMRC’s and Sahayata Trust’s local volunteers implemented the Ramadan Ration Distribution at regions of Sunderban Islands and at Bankura Forest area and several other districts of rural Bengal. At the conclusion of the program a total of 700 poor Muslim families benefited and were blessed with food grains enough to sustain three times a meal for a whole month of Ramadan.
In Sunderban Island region, Mousuni Island and Pathankhali Delta Island are tiny Islands situated near Bay of Bengal, it’s the last field of India in West Bengal. When IMRC volunteers reached the Isolated Islands with the cargo of happiness its residents were more than surprised but jubilant at the same time. A 45-year old resident Hafizul Islam expressed his joy on the noble community service they have received. He said, “Our Island’s poor community has been neglected not just by the private parties but by the government agencies as well, as a result we are suffering a lot, this is the first time our poor community’s suffering has been given an attention and it’s the first time an organization has taken an initiative to reduce the suffering of poor and needy here.”
Aklima Beoa a 48-year old widow at the end of the distribution pleaded “Its feels really wonderful to know that someone cares for you, this feeling alone gives us hope and helps us to struggle for our basic needs.” The widow said the island contains small community of Muslims who are practicing and start fasting since a very young age. She said almost all the families on the Island breaks their fast with water and crushed ginger, and this will be the first time the poor families will have the fortune of having food grains and cooked meals for Ramadan.
At the villages around Bankura forest region scene was no different, poor villagers of Asna, Tentuia, Telijant, Kadambandi villages took the distributed ration as a no less than a fortune. Muslim families of these villages are forest dwellers who survive and eke out their livelihood by collecting woods from the forest.
The 50-year old Rejina Bibi is fasting and carrying bundles of wood on her bended back. She is fasting and continues to do backbreaking task to survive in their forsaken villages. She said during Ramadan she desires that her work load to be reduced so she can have a peaceful fasting, seeing the ration distribution center being formed at her village she could not hold her contentment and tells the fellow villagers that her prayers have been answered.
The Jama Masjid of Shimlapal was one of the distribution center for the program, Imam of the mosque Hafiz Muhammad Mujtaba Ali monitored the distribution to the needy and most deserving of the village said Bankura forest region villages covers some of the most economically distressed Muslim families in whole of West Bengal, but they have been often neglected in the radius of aid and charity due to their low numbers.
Imam Mujtaba Ali said “For every poor beneficiary of the villages the ration stock packet is considered to be a gift from Allah. No other organization has extended a helping hand here before, the poor forest dwellers of the villages has first time experienced community assistance.”
Apart from the concentrated efforts on these regions, IMRC’s volunteers also organized Ration distribution at Muslim dominated villages of South 24 Parganas, Malda, Nadia, Murshidabad and West Mednapur Districts, where over 7,800 poor and deserving Muslims benefited with the program and had a ration stock to peacefully endure through whole of Ramadan.
The most important and notable beneficiaries among this villages were the more than 100 widows of Sangrampur village of South 24 Parganas District. Due to the menace of illicit liquor many men of the village in their prime age lost their lives living behind widows and families without any support. This year IMRC extended a whole-hearted support through food distribution and made sure that in this holy month of Ramadan no widow in the village is left unfed
Besides the Ration distribution, under its Ramadan Feeding Program for the poor and needy IMRC and Sahayata Trust through its vast network of local volunteers has also organized village community Iftar in several districts across the state.
For the past 36 years IMRC through its sister organization Sahayata Trust is organizing Ramadan Ration Kit distribution program as part of its Ramadan Feeding Project. Through its vast network of volunteers every year IMRC organizes 100 distribution centers of Ramadan food ration across 22 states in India providing relief to thousands of deserving poor and needy families.