PROBLEM OF THE TRIBALS OF BANKURA AND PURULIA
LAKSHIMDRA KUMAR SARKAR
Published in Aajkaal Patrika, Kolkata
The Bankura and Purulia is a drought prone region of West Bengal. These regions get more affected in drought than other regions of West Bengal.
I have travelled the villages in the foothills of the mountains are Bagmundi, Bandowan, Mukundapur , Jhilimili and have understood the problems of the tribals.
The tribals mainly live in Purulia, Saturia police station and Neturia police station, in the south Kayra, Maanbazaar has 7 regions, kurbandh , Jamteria, Borgoria, Borokhari, Aakro, Dighi etc. and east of east of Burrabazar, Hura and Prishna. Other than this , some tribes also live in the west.
The communication system is very poor in South Purulia. The undivided region of Malbhum came under West Bengal in 1974. Bidhan Chandra Roy by the request of TATA , seven miles of road in Purulia have come under Bihar. Since it is of no use to the Bihar government, they neglect it. The government of West Bengal do not want to build the road from Bundwan to Purulia. So a traveler needs to walk 3 miles to go from Bundwan to Purulia. If someone has to go to Jaanbazar, then he has to take a bus to Purulia. Other than this there are many rivers but there are no bridge on those rivers.
It is not possible to say where the ration’s wheat, sugar , rice goes. There is problem in transport communication.
At the entrance of Khatra in Bankura district , the government has created a concrete structure. It has been constructed in such a low position that the waters of the river Kangsabati have immersed the concrete structure. Beside that the concrete structures are lying there. A school was constructed in the land at the starting of 1981. The land allotted for the school building has been used but only a small portion and the rest of it has been divided under 3 persons. In the Jamrai village of Maanbazaar police station, Ananta Soren has taken a patta on someone else’s land. They want to show the legal documents in the different places of Purulia. If they cannot take care of them , then the land has been distributed among the tribals.
The tribals are taken off of everything. The illiterate tribes are duped and the lands are taken away from them. 22 bighas of land have been taken and the tribals have started protesting. On the month of September in 1980, 6000 tribals have protested in a meeting where the punishment for the molestation of the tribal women and the cancellation of license of the liquor shops in Purulia.
The government have provided free education and providing stipend to the tribal students. Though there are schools in the tribal village, the teachers do not know Santali language. As a result, the girls and boys stop going to school. The recruitment of the teachers have stopped. So the teachers are not getting employed in the tribal villages. The population in the tribal village of Mukundapur is 800 but no school can be built. It is accused that the money of the stipend of the tribal students are stolen by the teachers. The Agrikil School of Purulia keep the students for 2 months in hostel and the rest of the money is stolen away. A protest is going on. While working in Burdwan, a stipend has been arranged from 5th to 8th class.
The right value is not given
The tribals do not get the right value. At Jhilimili of Bankura, there is a “Charaku Large Size Multipurpose Company Cooperative Society.” I heard that homeopathy doctor is there who lives in Srirampur. He comes to the health centre once a week. Even when there is a crucial stage of some patient, he is not found. He cleans and purifies the place where the tribals stand with cow dung, tulsi leaves and water from the Ganges just in front of them.
Deforestation
The forests of South Bengal are located in Purulia, Bankura and Midnapore, Jhargram subdivision. From these areas, a lot of woods are collected. But at present some selfish people are
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