Landless labourers left in a lurch

Landless labourers left in a lurch

BHILAWADI (SANGLI)/PUNE:  “I know I would not have any work for at least three-five months. We have received a lot of food and other material. But at some point, we hope to find a way to stand on our own,” said a distraught villager of Bhilawadi village in Sangli district.

The flood has swept away entire villages in Sangli and Kolhapur districts, The deluge has left the village economies in tatters. The landless and daily wage labourers are in a worse situation, as there is no possibility of them getting any work for several months.

“Markets in these villages have collapsed. Farms are decaying because they were submerged in water for over 10 days. Villagers belonging to socio-economically backward castes and classes in the village usually work in the village as daily wage labourers. But now, nobody in the village has any money or resource left to employ these people,” said village sarpanch Vijay Chopde.

“The people from the backward communities are landless. They work as labourers in different sectors,” said Bhilawadi’s former sarpanch and social activist Rahul Kamble.

He added, “Several people work as agricultural labourers. Usually around this time, they are employed for the work of weeding in sugarcane and banana fields, harvesting of soybean, etc. Many are employed for driving tractors, bullock carts, for spraying pesticides and other agriculture-related work. However, with all crops in the village destroyed, there is no work that the farmers can give it to the labourers.”

“Usually, by this time, many villagers set out to paint their homes before the Ganesh festival or Diwali. That is not going to happen this time. Over 100 painters in the village are thus jobless this year,” Kamble added.

In 2005, he said, most of the bigger traders and businessmen in the village were not affected by floods. “The water level was much lower at that time. As the big traders had not suffered losses, they could help others recover. This time, everyone in the village has been left helpless after the floods, it is going to be very difficult for the village to come out of the disaster this time. The village economy has been reversed by at least 10 years,” Kamble sighed.

Bhilawadi was over 90 per cent affected by the floods. Situated on the bank of Krishna river, most of the houses, shops, markets, farms in the village, along with the gram panchayat and police station were submerged. While a majority of the area in the village has concrete houses, the area where the backward castes reside can easily be distinguished by the kind of houses that can be seen there. “Most of the houses in this area are either made of mud or bricks. These houses have been dampened in flood water and are at risk of collapsing. If that happens, most of the families in this area would not even have a roof over their heads,” a resident of Panchsheelnagar area in Bhilawadi said. Along with Panchasheelnagar, Sathenagar, Dattanagar, Maulananagar, Vasantdadanagar are some of the predominantly socio-economically backward areas in the village. As the village sarpanch got down from his car, everyone from the area gathered around him, trying to narrate their stories and their problems. Every evening, they gather together, talk to each other and try to find solutions to the problems that have haunted them all for almost a month now.

“At present, people are huddling together at each other’s places, at some of the houses that are not severely damaged in the floods. But for how long will they be able to do that,” the social activist questioned.

“Over 250 houses in the village are unsafe to stay. But it would not suffice to provide these people a common shelter at a village school or any other building of the kind. Most people do not wish to leave whatever of the household things that have been saved from the flood and to go and live in the shelters. The issue of common toilets and bathrooms will also arise. It is one thing to live in shelters for 15-20 days, but now, it would be better if small tin shades could be built for these villagers near their original homes. That would be sufficient and that would help them cope much better than living in a shelter,” Kamble said.

Right now, what these people need is a whiff of positivity. “We are trying to interact with them, make them talk to us, but more is required. With loss of employment, homes and everything, only positivity can help them recover and stand back on their feet. We definitely need more people, even from outside the village, to come and talk to us, and help us restart our lives,” Kamble said.

LABOURERS AFFECTED BY FLOODS
Besides agriculture, many work as labourers in the markets for loading and unloading vehicles and also as construction workers, plumbers and painters. All of them have lost their source of employment.

Sakal Times observed a similar situation in other villages that were visited including Tawdarwadi (Dhangao) and Bramhanal in Sangli district and Chikhali and Ambewadi in Kolhapur district.

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