SWER (SOHRA): Rikynti Nongrum and Mina Diengdoh could feed their families even after they were delisted from the BPL category in the 2011 Census because they had work. But there is no job since the coronavirus pandemic started. All the women have now are their expired ration cards.
Nongrum and Diengdoh are among the members of 10 households at Swer whose names vanished from the BPL list, along with that their right to PDS food grain.
In this village of 415 families, 70 per cent are poor, said the Sordar, Sordrun Swer.
It was evident from the tin-box-like structure that they call home and the tired faces of hungry children peeping from a hole on the corrugated wall.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Wednesday, Nongrum and Diengdoh said they did not get rationed rice and are “somehow surviving on whatever little is left”.
Diengdoh, who has the responsibility of three children and five grandchildren, showed her BPL card and said, “We have not received any ration for a very long time”. Asked from which year, she repeated with a smile and said, “It was a long time ago”.
The last entry on the card was in 2012. Nongrum, a mother of five, said it was the same year that her ration stopped. Her card is damaged and barely has her name on it.
“We have no choice but to buy the rice available in the open market which is Rs 34 per kg, we are buying as per our monetary capacity,” Nongrum said.
Both Diengdoh and Nongrum are job card holders and if they are not working for the 100-day scheme, they plough the fields for potato plantation on the community land (Raid). The meagre vegetables grown by them are helping the families to stave off hunger.
“I tell them (shopkeepers) that I do not have money and they in turn say – ‘We cannot help it if you do not have money’. I have not gone to work yet due to the lockdown,” Diengdoh said.
The rice for March has been distributed by Fair Price Shop dealers and the rice for April will be given on Saturday.
Both Diengdoh and Nongrum have accounts with Meghalaya Rural Bank, Mawkdok branch. But the money sanctioned by the state government is yet to be transferred.
Diengdoh said she had gone to the bank a week ago “but the job card wage had not been credited into my account”.
An official at Meghalaya Rural Bank said that it is up to the Sordar Shnong to give the list of job card beneficiaries to the BDO who in turn gives it to the bank. “If anyone has problem with the account, he or she can always come to me. Please inform them,” he told this reporter.
The Sordar admitted that there are households who have not received PDS food grain and informed that he had spoken to the SDO Sohra, Supply. “They said people will have to wait till the revised census of 2021,” he added.
Sordrun advised that those who could not get ration card should meet the respective locality heads.
Meanwhile, the Ramakrishna Mission in Sohra has donated rice and other items to the Dorbar and “specifically told us that it should be distributed among the poorest families”. Local MLA Gavin Mylliem has given essential commodities.
“The executive committee of the Dorbar Shnong will meet to chalk out a distribution plan as there are too many poor families,” Sordrun said.
As for the job card holders, he said they should update their passbooks. “We will ensure that they get the benefits. We have also announced the registration of labourers. We are helping some and others have gone on their own to register,” he said.
More shops
Sordrun urged the government to open more shops so that social distancing protocol can be maintained properly.
He added that the village of Swer is trying to cooperate with the government during the lockdown.
