Life of agony for residents of river bank
SHILLONG/KALATEK: The male child of Nitai Biswas was born with deformities. He can neither talk nor walk. He was born on a boat as Biswas was rushing his wife to the remote hospital for delivery.
The boat is the only means of transportation for the people of Kalatek hamlet.
“My wife developed labour pain and we had no other option than to use the lone boat to reach the hospital but mid-way, she delivered the child, Biswas, who is also the Gaonbura (headman) of Kalatek, said.
His son Ratan is now three. “Born on a boat, my child cannot talk and hear. He sometimes shouts but without uttering any words”, Nitai said.
Come elections and polling parties have to travel by boat to reach the polling station in Kalatek under Shella. But they have to travel only twice in five years – for both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls or when there is a bypoll — unlike the daily plight of the villagers here.
This reporter took one such boat ride recently along with passengers returning to Kalatek after the Durga puja celebrations. The boat was leaking throughout the journey, but none complained as it was nothing new for them.
“The water on the boat adjusts itself depending on its movement. Water does not fully fill the boat. So no need to panic”, a passenger said offering comfort.
The boatman was employed by the village committee to ferry the passengers in the lone boat for the to-and fro-journey from 6 am to 8 pm daily collecting Rs 10 per head.
The residents long for a bridge as that will ease their transportation problem.
It took a seven-kilometre tedious trek from Ichamati through the border areas of Beltoli, Kali Bari and Pathar Ghat to reach the river bank before crossing the river to step into Kalatek. All along the trek, the sun beat down mercilessly with no shelter or shade to escape the scorching heat.
“We have written several letters to the state government asking for a bridge but in vain”, the headman added.
The residents narrated their plight in the isolated village as erosion is a major concern during the rains.
“The river swells during the rains and submerges and carries away portions of our land”, Nitai said.
Mohanado Biswas, another Kalatek resident, added that when the river is in spate, there is further misery as the massive soil erosion results in loss of precious land but nobody has cared to address the issue.
“If it rains continuously and if somebody is sick, it becomes very difficult to reach the health centres. Ichamati is the nearest place to avail medical treatment”, he said.
The area beyond Kalatek is Pyrkan and there is a hanging bridge which connects it to Shella.
According to the residents, the Kalatek village must be a hundred-years-old. Barring two Khasi families, all other residents are Bengali -speaking Hindus.
There are 765 eligible voters in the village of around 2000 residents.
Not all houses have electricity and hand pumps are used to get water.
The BSF has donated a community hall while there is a school till Class VII run by the Ramakrishna Mission. The government has sanctioned as many as 295 latrines, but red tape by the Block authorities has kept the residents away from availing the luxury.
Kalatek is certainly not open defecation free and runs contrary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent claim of the country having achieved the feat.
The secretary of the village, Birendra Biswas, said that the administration should come closer to the people and that the urgent need is to construct a bridge.
To eke out a living, the villagers cultivate rice and vegetables.
“We were all settled here before 1971. The former MLA Donkupar Roy visited the village for the first time only in 2018”, added a villager.
The residents do not believe that there will be any change in Kalatek after the October 21 bypoll.
With the villagers losing faith in the state government, its machinery and the elected representatives, they are pinning hope on the Central government to change the face of their village.