Former East Pakistan refugees desert rehabilitation sites at Dandakaranya, head for West Bengal

Waiting for relief

What started as a mere trickle in February turned into a never ending exodus in March. More than 40,000 former East Pakistan refugees, deserting their rehabilitation sites at Dandakaranya, a rugged terrain spreading over adjoining districts of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, had reached Calcutta by the first week of April. Thousands are still on the way. The West Bengal rehabilitation minister's visit to Dandakaranya to persuade the former refugees not to leave for West Bengal has failed to stem the flow.

Selling their belongings and leaving behind the pucca huts and agricultural land provided free by the Central Government, the refugees are heading for the Sunderbans, the sparsely populated deltaic mangrove swamps. They feel a better life awaits them there. "We want to live and die in Bengal" is their slogan.

About 30,000 have reached Hasnabad, the nearest railhead to the Sunderbans. Cholera, malnutrition and starvation have already taken their toll (25 deaths have been reported) among the deserters at this railhead, where they are camping in rows of shanties along the road and rail tracks.

Instigation: There are many reasons for the exodus. There are some "instigating groups" in Dandakaranya who have been campaigning for "chalo Sunderbans" among the former refugees. Their motive: to enable "others" to grab the refugees' land. Besides, the yield of the land distributed among the refugees is poor. Their produce fetches unremunerative prices.

The refugees also allege continuous harassment by the local tribals, ranging from forcible harvesting of crops to assault of their women. The bulk of the five lakh refugees who have been resettled at Dandakaranya are yet to be granted Indian citizenship and the voting right, though they, have lived in this country for over two decades.

The West Bengal Government has said it will not allow resettlement of Dandakaranya deserters in the state "as no extra land is available and four to five million displaced people are yet to be rehabilitated".

Curbs: To prevent the deserters from staying permanently, they are not being provided any Government relief. Those bound for Calcutta are being forcibly detrained at the Kharagpur railway station.

But the deserters are in no mood to leave West Bengal. They have started to gherao police stations and officials in protest against the Government's stand. But it is ironic that the ministers who are asking the deserters to return to Dandakaranya had, 18 years ago, protested against the resettlement of the refugees in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. They had harped on the Centre's "complicity to kill them in alien lands".