SPECIAL REPORT "Who's there, @#$% (explicit abuse)?" a shrill voice pierces the veil of dense smog. Knowing this part of western UP and the recent events that had taken place there, the first thought that ran through my mind, is that we should have listened to a fellow journalist friend who advised me not to visit the place at night.
But it's too late now. Two dark figures approach in the distance asking for proof of identity. They are soon revealed to be two young men in their 20s, clad only in track suits in the less than 6 degree weather. They are part of the night patrol squad in Malakpura, a riot victims' camp in UP's Shamli district. Four months after the riots, the residents of these camps still fear another attack.
"Today is my turn to keep watch with a few others from our ward," says Mohammad Abid, upon being assured that this particular outsider trying to find his way in to UP's biggest relief camp, poses no real threat.
As the night deepens, the few campfires that were vaguely visible in the distance, die down. "The supply of wood is almost finished. Tomorrow the district administration might send new lot," says Abid, who fled from Dangar, a village on the border of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, with 5 family members.
In the darkness lie 1,500 jhuggis (huts) made of cloth and bamboo. A few lucky families have been able to procure tarpaulin through various NGOs. The fog here is so dense that even the outlines of these camps are not visible to the naked eye. The only sounds that betray the presence of human life in this surreal backdrop is the occasional cries of children and worried voices trying to calm them down.
Abid and his friend try to shoo away a dog. "One of these forest dogs the other day gouged the eyes of a baby," Abid says. "Uske pet se sab nikal diya tha (it disemboweled the body)." The worst affected are the children. While the district administration remains in denial, the residents of the Malakpura camp claims that 42 children have died in the last two months -- and all from the bitter cold.
"My 20 day old son died because he didn't have a blanket to cover him," says Murshida Begum who reached the camp with her husband and 4 children when the army evacuated Bhadal, her village in Muzaffarnagar. "Now two of my daughters have pneumonia and there are no cloths to cover them," she breaks down looking in the direction of the fresh graves of the dead children at the edge of the camp. According to the doctors in the camp, the number of deaths is likely to rise.
"How can you stop these deaths? We are helpless here. In this cold, the children are scantily covered and there is no hygiene," says Dr Padam Singh from Kairana district hospital, who has been overseeing Malakpura and another nearby camp in Kandhla for the last two months. "These people are supposed to receive money from the government but there is no sign of it," he says. (Nearly Rs 1,200 crore has supposedly been allocated for relief and rehabilitation of these refugees) "Nothing has come through.
There are too many layers before the money reaches here." The district magistrate's office in Shamli won't talk about what has happened to the funds, or whether any measures are being taken to rehabilitate these people. But the residents of the camps have already received notice to evacuate, as the camp has been illegally built on encroached forest land.
The residents have no idea where they will go next. In other camps, the victims have already started buying land next to their camps from the locals. "How long can one live here? A family of 10 to 12 people cannot live in a pigeon hole for the rest of their lives. We gather whatever we had and buying lands at the rate of 1 lakh for 100 yards of land," says MD Akil who now resides at Muzaffarnagar's Loee camp.
After Malakpura, Loee has witnessed the highest number of children's deaths. "17 children have died so far and mostly of cold," confesses an anganwadi worker. Among the 4,000 people in the camp, only 150 people have received compensation money from the government, claim its residents. "First we were told to give a written affidavit that for the time being we need compensation for only one person in the family.
Later the administration showed us the same affidavit and said that we agreed to only one person's compensation," alleges Abdul Sattar, who received only one lakh as rehabilitation money for his entire family of 15 people. The district administration did not respond to Firstpost's requests for a comment. The people who cannot afford to buy land face even greater uncertainty.
"Something might work out but we cannot go back to our villages.The people who we trusted once have killed, raped and maimed us. And the party we voted for has deserted us ever since," says Mohammad Anwar who is at the Kandhla camp.
Almost every resident in all the refugee camps share this sentiment. "How can I live right next to my neighbour again who I saw set my house on fire?" Asks Mehbooba Khatun, whose four year old daughter Masuma died a week ago. "We could have died there only. Her life was only prolonged for four more months," says Mehbuba's husband Shokeen Mohammad with a stoic face as he clutches onto his other daughter who has been running a fever for over a week.
Had it not been for the private relief workers, half the population would have died by now, say the residents in Shamli. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that Muslim refugees refuse to visit the government doctors who are predominantly Hindu. In Malakpura, people go to a NGO medical camp organised by one wing of Jamiat e Ulema Hind manned by volunteers from Kerala.
"The victims have no trust in the government anymore. The doctors also don't do anything to reach out to these people. You can see everyone now depends on us," says a volunteer from one of the NGOs pointing at the huge line of people in front of his camp. The government medical tent right next door lies empty. The apathy in the aftermath of the riots has alienated these residents from the current UP government.
"Akhilesh Ji could have stopped the mahapanchayats. Nothing would have occurred then," says Anwar. Abid, the 29 year old night watchman, says "It was our fault. We through and through supported the wrong people. No wonder Behenji will not look after us now." But who will? For now, the question remains sadly and unforgivably unanswered.
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