No relief at Yamuna 'relief' camp

Water is in abundance here, but food is what they really need. Such is the sorry state of affairs at a relief camp at Yamuna Khadar area in east Delhi, which was set up on Tuesday evening after the water level crossed the danger mark.

Ramesh Chand, a 60-year-old farmer, who is the head of a family comprising 16 members, said they have not got food from the government.

“We have been here since Tuesday evening, but no government agency has come to distribute food at the camp. We are starving. We are only getting drinking water, but we need food to live,” Chand told Deccan Herald.

“Officials come and go, but there is no system for the distribution of food.”
The city government’s tall claims of providing food, drinking water and health services fall flat. The government boasts of setting up 1,153 tents to accommodate over 10,000 flood victims. But it fails to provide adequate facilities like fumigation on daily basis. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority’s did not even know about the issues at the Yamuna Kadhar relief camp.

“We have issued orders to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner at relief camps. Officials must be complying with the orders,” said Rajiv Kumar, sub divisional magistrate. But the reality on ground tells a different story.

Like Chand, there are hundreds of people who are struggling to get two meals a day. Suresh Kumar, 25, said, “We haven’t eaten properly since Tuesday. It has been two days and there has been no arrangement of food for us. And there are lot of mosquitoes around, the condition is very unhygienic.”

The displaced people said they will not be able to go back to their fields not before two months. “I have lived here all my life. The level of water is more than the last time, in 2010. When the water level had risen last time, we could only go back to our fields after over two months. The land takes that long to get completely dried up,” said Girjender Ram, 30, a third generation farmer.

While Deccan Herald was there from 11 am to 3.30 pm, no government agency came to distribute food at the camp. The civil defence volunteers present there themselves did not know when was the last time food was given to the affected people.