Walking through the narrow lanes of Belgachia Vagar (garbage dumping ground) in Howrah district, just nine kilometres from Kolkata, one felt as if the area had been hit by an earthquake.
Cracked roads, around 100 collapsed houses, and women and children sitting on the streets holding on to the last of their belongings. Even a drop of water has become precious for these families that have been left homeless after the area experienced a landslide on Thursday. The incident resulted in buildings developing cracks and a water pipeline burst.
Gauri Debi, 35, one of the survivors of the landslide, told The Indian Express, “I have been living here for years. Suddenly, on Thursday, we felt as if the ground rose. Then everything around us started collapsing. Today (Sunday), the entire house collapsed. We were unable to bring out anything. Where will we go now?”
Monisha Show, 16, who recently took the Class 10 Board exams, could not even retrieve her textbooks. “I want nothing else from the chief minister, I just want a roof over our head, food, and water,” said the teary-eyed teenager.
Laxmi Paswan, 43, who was standing outside her partially damaged house, said she was unable to enter the building out of fear that it may collapse anytime. “I have a small shop on the roadside that collapsed. That was our only means of livelihood. For decades, we have been living here. Now where will I go with my family? Thursday’s experience was very scary,” she added.
A visibly worried Ajay Paswan, 41, told this correspondent, “We are daily wage earners. My younger son is only 9 years old, I have another son and a daughter. My wife is sitting with them outside our house. Yesterday, it was raining, today the weather is a bit better. Leaders are coming and going but no one has given us any aid till now.”
Some of the affected people rued that they were not getting rented accommodations elsewhere because they were mostly ragpickers.
Poonam Paswan, 35, said, “Before elections, politicians from the ruling party come with folded hands to ask for votes, but where is the state government now? The administration has arranged temporary accommodations for us in schools, we go there at night but that is not a permanent solution. Let them give us a home.”
Speaking to media persons, local Trinamool Congress MLA Gautam Chowdhury said, “We are trying our best to restore piped water supply by today (Sunday) evening.”
BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh met with the aggrieved families on Sunday. Thereafter, he told reporters, “We have made camps for people. We are feeling bad for all of them and we are trying our best. The TMC counts them as voters and not humans. Bobby (Firhad) Hakim had said that a Japanese company would be brought in, where is it? There is no councillor here as civic elections have not been held… Why have the municipal polls not been held? Someone (in reference to Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee) is going to Oxford University to give lectures. What about these people?”
Bengal Minister Arup Ray, who is also from Howrah, said, “The situation is sad, but this is a natural disaster in which humans have no hand. Many houses have been destroyed but we have arranged for the affected people to be shifted. We are also providing food.”