Election no balm on hooch tragedy

MORGHAT: Poll fever that has gripped the entire country has not affected this poverty-stricken swathe of the backward South 24-Parganas. And for good reason: the people here have lost all hope in politics and governance. They know that poll victories and defeats will make no difference to their dark destinies. And that's why they have no interest in the political swirl around them.
No one in Mograhat, about 30 kilometres south of Kolkata, has remained unaffected by the terrible tragedy that struck this place 27 months ago, claiming 172 lives and shattering hundreds of families. The hooch tragedy, Bengal's worst in living memory, brought scores of politicians of all hues to this area with their promises. None of those promises, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee's one of paying Rs two lakh to each affected family, has been translated into reality. Naturally, the residents here have little faith in politicians and in the very process that brings politicians to power.
The locals' sense of alienation is compounded by the fact that far from living up to their commitments, the politicians have failed to even ensure that such a tragedy does not strike again. That's because hooch, the killer brew, is back, albeit in a new avatar. It's now known variously as 'tiger', 'toofan' and 'urang' and not the 'bangla' (illicit country liquor) that claimed the 172 lives here on that cold December evening in 2011. "There's no reason for us to vote. Because electoral promises are never delivered and things remain the same, despite whosoever comes to power. Elections hold no meaning for us," says local businessman Abul Bashar.
Though the peddler of that poison, Noor Islam aka Khoda Badshah is cooling his heels behind bars, new ones have taken their place with the police apparently slackening their vigil. A TOI on-the-spot investigation revealed that Khoda Badshah's associates have picked up the threads and have started brewing and selling the illicit liquor from some shacks beside the railway station here. Locals told TOI that anyone asking for 'bangla' (as hooch is commonly called all over Bengal) will be shooed away from these shacks. But ask for 'tiger' or 'toofan' or 'urang' and you'll be welcomed with a smile. This business is also flourishing at Mograhat's neighbouring Dakshin Durgapur, Dhamua and Sangrampur villages.
Mograhat resident Bhola Gazi, 23, who lost his cousin Bablu and uncle Rafiq to hooch rued that lack of police vigil has led to mushrooming of illicit liquor dens in the area once again. This has come as a rude shock for residents of Sangrampur, which lost 70 of its men to 'bangla'. Abul Bashar, who had led members of the local Golden Club to put up stiff resistance against brewing of illicit country liquor at Sangrampur even before the tragedy and had demolished the liquor dens there, said the supply of hooch from Mograhat continues unabated. "The tragedy hit us hard and wiped out the entire adult male population from some localities of our village. We want a crackdown on resumed production of hooch since that liquor is finding its way to surrounding areas. But police and their political masters aren't interested," Bashar told TOI.
The TOI team came across heart-rending tales that the tragedy left in its wake. At Sangrampur's Gayenpara, Hasibul Gayen is the only living person who can tell the tale of that accursed evening. He partook a few glasses of the killer brew and survived. But he curses his fate: he has lost his vision, cannot walk unaided and has become a burden on his extended family. His brothers Nasiruddin and Saifullah lost their lives, leaving behind their wives Akida and Baharon respectively, and eight children. Hasibul, 40, is father of three kids, one of them just two years old. The responsibility of supporting the two widows, their eight children as well as Hasibul, his wife and three kids - all fifteen of them - has fallen on Hasibul's 65-year-old father Abdul Gayen who used to work as a labourer at the railway station earlier. "I cannot lift heavy loads anymore," he says. Though Akida and Baharon receive Rs 1400 each as compensation from the government, the amounts are hardly enough to run the extended family of 16.
Sadder still is the tale of Dolenur at Sangrampur's Laskarpara. Her husband Akbar Laskar, a small-time trader, used to help dig graves for the dead of the village. Though he consumed just a glass of hooch on December 16 evening, he was quite sober and dug as many as nine pits at the graveyard when the bodies started coming in. He went home exhausted and started complaining of headache and body ache. He died the next day and was buried in one of the pits he had dug!"Had I received the one-time compensation of Rs two lakh that Mamata Banerjee had promised, I could have continued my husband's business. The Rs 1400 that I get is barely enough to feed and clothe my three children," she cried. Laskar's son Hossainur said they have lost faith in politics and hence would not vote this time.Similar tales of woe and ruin scar many localities in this area. The unfortunate survivors of the tragedy haven't been able to pick up the threads of their lives. The only ones who have are the peddlers of that poison. Hence, few will vote on polling day.