The Hindu : Nowhere to go and no one cares

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Sunday, Jun 23, 2002

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Opinion - News Analysis

Nowhere to go and no one cares

By Manas Dasgupta

Narendra Modi's officials are on the prowl. Their target, the relief camps for the riot victims. They want them closed at the earliest. Manas Dasgupta reports.

THE BJP Government in Gujarat has still not tired of harassing the minorities. They have now been ordered to leave the protection of the relief camps and walk into an uncertain future. Narendra Modi's officials are on the prowl. Eight camps were ordered shut earlier this week in Ahmedabad catching the organisers unaware. The district officials apparently wanted to prove the Union Home Minister, L. K. Advani, right. When Mr. Advani was briefing the media that only 12 camps were operating in the city providing shelter to some 15,300 people, actually 22 camps were sheltering some 49,000 riot victims.

The authorities instantly stopped supply of essential commodities and drinking water to the camps though not one of the inmates had moved out or was provided alternative shelter. The camp organisers are in a quandary. They can neither force the inmates to go back to their shattered houses nor can they afford to run the camps indefinitely without governmental assistance.

In those camps still in operation, pressure is on the organisers to send back home as many people as possible. Khalid Shaikh, who runs camp number 15, was told to send home at least 175 of the 800-odd inmates. It is another thing that those forced to return to their homes in some of the worst riot-hit areas of Idgah, Amdupura and Chamanpura are yet to get any compensation from the Government, their damaged houses are yet to be repaired and a sense of fear and insecurity still prevails among them.

"We are being hounded out like criminals," regretted Mr. Shaikh, "for committing the crime of running a shelter camp for the riot-hit". Teams of officials from the District Collectorate had visited his camp, his office and even his home to "persuade" him to close down the camp and send the inmates home.

A Government official is deputed to each camp to take a head-count and coordinate relief, yet teams of officials from the District Collectorate descend on the camps now and then to crosscheck. "Sometimes the teams come thrice a day to take a head-count as if the inmates are prisoners and cannot stir out of the camp even for a minute," says Farid Shaikh, who runs camp 45. Government assistance depends on the head-count taken by the teams and not on the number of inmates registered in the camps.

Though no final decision has been taken, the officials have made it clear that all the camps except three major ones in Ahmedabad — Shah Alam Roza, Dariakhan Ghummat and Sankalitnagar in Juhapura — would be closed down after June 30. All those not prepared to return to their homes would have to be accommodated in these three camps.

It is true that from about 1.50 lakh inmates in 121 camps at the height of the communal riots, the number has come down to about 60,000 in 19 camps in different parts of the State. But except in the rural areas, not many have returned to their homes willingly.

The pressure to close down the camps had been mounting on the organisers for the last six weeks or so and many who could not withstand it either requested the inmates to return or handed over the camps to the district authorities to be closed down promptly forcing the inmates either to return to their un-repaired homes or take shelter with friends and relatives wherever feasible in some unaffected minority-dominated areas.

In the camps of people such as Khalid Shaikh who refused to give in to pressure, the Government dangled a carrot before the inmates. If they agreed to return to their homes voluntarily, they would be given priority in clearing their dues, a clear hint that those remaining in the camps would get nothing.

But for the Modi administration, promises are made only to be broken. "They had made similar promises some three months back also, but nothing came of it," pointed out Mr. Shaikh. The inmates he sent packing home got nothing for a week though the promise was to pay them the compensation within two days. And those who were paid the "compensation" feel ashamed to even talk about it.

Shaukatkhan Tyrewala, general secretary of the Qaumi Relief Committee set up to carry out negotiations with the Government on behalf of the minority victims, said some of them had been paid as little as Rs. 15 or Rs. 50 for repairing their damaged houses. "Why this crude joke in the name of compensation," ask the victims. The committee said that while the victims of the earthquake in urban centres last year were paid a compensation of Rs 1.50 lakhs with soft-term loan facilities for another Rs. three lakhs, the Government was not prepared to pay even Rs. 50,000 for the houses damaged in the riots. Nothing remains in the house of Rukshnabanu Mohammadhussain in Amdupura locality. "The hooligans did not even spare the floor tiles which were dug out before the house was looted and set afire," Mr. Shaikh pointed out. But what she got from the Government as the "full and final settlement" was only Rs. 2,000. "Can anyone rebuild a house in a city with Rs. 2,000?''

The situation is no different for the Muslim industrialists who have suffered heavy losses. Sheetal Submersible Pump company owned by Akhtar Mansuri was in ruins. Mr. Mansuri submitted all relevant papers, including the insurance cover, to the District Industries Centre estimating his loss at Rs. 45 lakhs. The reply from the DIC was a second shock to him after the riots. It did not dispute his claim but sanctioned only a "loan" of Rs. one lakh.

The compensation policy for the riot-hit industries, including small shops, has a major loophole. They can either avail a soft-term loan or a 10 per cent subsidy, not both. Accepting the Government subsidy means they will have to borrow the rest of the money from the market. With even small shop owners hard-pressed, the fate of the owners of the chain of hotels where everything was destroyed and the utensils looted is worse.

The reason given for closing down the camps is the coming monsoon and the need to coordinate the relief work, but the motives are different. Besides the fact that they are a grim reminder of "state-sponsored terrorism", many of the camps in the urban centres are located in the municipal schools which have to be reopened. And the Government is not willing to provide alternative sites for the camps as any such idea will be resisted in the Hindu-dominated areas and it does not want to follow a "ghettoisation" policy.

But the main reason for the early closure seems to be the political compulsion to clear the way for the Assembly elections. Elections cannot be held till the inmates are resettled and the relief camps closed down. The BJP and Mr. Modi are keen on an early election to encash the communal sentiments generated by the riots. According to some sources close to Mr. Modi, the Chief Minister was keen on holding the elections this month but refrained from dissolving the Assembly realising that the Election Commission may not agree. Now, the polls are planned for October but the process can begin only if the camps are dismantled

Mr. Modi and Mr. Advani seem unaware of the ground realities, that the process of rehabilitation has not even taken off and not even 10 per cent of the affected victims have received any kind of compensation. A calamity, natural or man-made, always brings a bonanza for the compensation-disbursing Government officials and the riots are no exception. Some minority leaders allege large-scale irregularities in the payment of compensation to the riot victims and say the records are being tampered with. They say the top leaders may be genuinely ignorant about the real situation because the records claim that nearly 90 per cent of the camp dwellers had returned home "voluntarily" after being "satisfied" with the compensation paid, that the rehabilitation process was nearing completion and that most of the affected had reconstructed their houses and were living in their "original places happily". But the reality is different.

According to both Mr. Tyrewala and Mr. Shaikh, not more than 10 per cent of the affected have so far received any compensation and even those paid have received a very meagre amount. According to Mr. Tyrewala, the maximum amount paid as compensation was Rs. 4,600 for houses completely destroyed while Mr. Shaikh said a few of the inmates in his camp had received up to Rs. 8,000 in instalments. Not a penny has yet been paid to Abidabanu Munnakhan Pathan, a resident of Roopsinh Chali in Chamanpura, who lost her husband and two-year-old daughter in the riots. But the official records speak differently.

"We are running from pillar to post but to no avail. What we get are promises and more promises which are never implemented," Mr. Shaikh regretted. But the officials disagree. "The riot victims are making false claims to try to pressure the Government and get more. We have seen this in other calamities and this time too they are exaggerating their claims to get more public sympathy," a Government official counter-claimed.

Flooded by complaints of irregularities and bias in carrying out the survey of the damaged properties, the Ahmedabad District Collector has agreed for a re-survey in some of the worst-affected areas but the people are not very hopeful. They have simply no confidence left in the present dispensation.

The Qaumi Relief Committee has staged dharnas and has planned to intensify the agitation by taking out rallies in different parts of the State, but the ruling party leaders are unconcerned.

They do not expect a single vote from the Muslims this time and if they can frustrate them to the extent of instigating them to boycott the elections, as is being talked about in some circles among the minorities, it will be a net gain for the BJP.

The alarm bells are ringing for the Congress but the party finds itself in a Catch-22 situation. In the prevailing communal atmosphere, it can ill-afford to align totally with the minorities for fear of losing majority support but in the process it is also eroding its minority vote bank.

The threat from the Congress representatives to resign from the all-party relief committee notwithstanding, the Muslims are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the party which they feel has let them down when they needed its support the most.

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