5000 Anjar residents take out protest march

By Manas Dasgupta

ANJAR, APRIL 6. Agitated over the State Government's ``inaction'' in rehabilitation and reconstruction work, the people of the earthquake-hit Anjar town and some other parts of the Kutch district today launched a ``long march'' to Gandhinagar.

About 5,000 people joined the march under the aegis of the ``Group 2001,'' formed by the local intelligentsia to fight for the rights of the quake-hit. The march began from the Surajwadi bridge, the gateway to the Kutch district from the Saurashtra region.

The marchers, if allowed to proceed further, expect to reach the State capital in a week. On way through the Saurashtra region, the marchers would brief the people about the Government's apathy in coming to the aid of the quake victims.

``We are compelled to launch the march to Gandhinagar as even 70 days after the calamity, there still is no end of the plight of the people and the Gujarat Government is doing precious little to solve our problems,'' Dr. Shyam Sunder, a local surgeon and convenor of the ``Group 2001'', said.

Incidentally Anjar is the only town where the local leaders, municipality and all other concerned had unanimously taken the decision to shift to a new site and communicated it to the State Government more than a month ago. But the Government, so far, has failed to take a decision on the re-location which has resulted in the suspension of all the rehabilitation and reconstruction activities except the stop-gap arrangements such as construction of some shops and schools or temporary working sheds with the hot galvanised iron sheets.

The people of Anjar had been seething in anger over the prolonged delay by the Government in launching the reconstruction programme to provide at least temporary shelters before the monsoon. The ``Group 2001'' had been on a dharna in front of the Deputy Collectors' office for the last one week or so to press their demands.

The efforts by the local officials to identify lands for the re- location has come to nought as the Government is yet to finalise the basic parameters, including the area, quality and price of the lands.

White paper sought

The group had been demanding the Government to publish a white paper giving details of the area of re-location, the actual damages suffered, the loss of human and animal lives with area- wise break-up.

According to Dr. Sunder, the official data released so far were ``vague'' and did not reflect the true situation. They also want the details of expenditures on the rescue and relief operations and what the Government intend to do in the future. While claiming ``transparency'' in its deals, the Government, he said, was not giving the ``true figures.''

For instance, he pointed out, while initially it was believed that at least 400 school children, who took out a Republic Day rally through the streets of Anjar perished in the quake, the Government now puts the toll at only 167 children. There were still no reports of the other children who were believed to have taken part in the rally and were still missing.

The group had written a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, on March 16, seeking the details, but there was ``still no reply from the Chief Minister's office,'' he said. The local residents, he claimed, were also unhappy over the distribution of relief materials and tents. ``We were told that a lot of foreign aid was rushed to the Kutch district immediately after the tragedy, but we have not seen any foreign supplies except for some dates and blankets distributed through the Anand Margis,'' Mr. Haribha Bhatia, one of the marchers, said.

Another march

The people in the district headquarters of Bhuj are also planning to take out another morcha to Gandhinagar on April 8 under the aegis of the ``Bhuj Punarvasan Samiti.'' ``The Government has done nothing for us,'' said Mr. Ratnakar Dholakia, the convenor of the Samiti. The Samiti had organised a ``rasta roko'' programme when the Chief Minister was in a nearby village earlier this week to launch the BJP's ``kar seva'' programme.

More than 15,000 people had participated in a protest rally taken out in Anjar on March 29 while at least eight local residents, including two women, are sitting on an indefinite relay fast for the past one week. The agitation, however, has failed to move the Government so far.

Despite their dissatisfaction, the group did not organise a demonstration to highlight their plight when the former United States President, Mr. Bill Clinton, visited Anjar on Wednesday. ``It is our internal problem, why should we bring it to the notice of our revered guest,'' Dr. Sunder said.

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