Cut-off warfare: A trench and tree trunks in Nandigram

Nandigram, Jan. 21: Life after January 3 here has been a nightmare for 50-year-old Dinabandhu Makur of Amgachhia.

He has a two-bigha (0.6 acres) plot but the paddy it yields is not enough to support his family of six. He depends on milk that he buys at Rs 10 a litre every morning and sells in Haldia, 15 km away by river, at Rs 14 for a living.

“Every day, I used to earn over Rs 250. But now the roads are dug up and the ferry services are closed. Even if I cycle with the milk cans to the ghats of Kendamari or Basulichak, there are no boats to take me across the Haldi. It is about 80 km to Haldia by road,” said Dinabandhu.

Since January 3, when land acquisition protesters dug up roads to make the villages inaccessible to police, Dinabandhu has not sold milk.

There are about 50 families in Dinabandhupur and neighbouring Maheshpur who had a thriving milk business when the new year began. Not now.

At Gakulnagar, Sudhanshu Barui, 60, used to trade in green coconuts. “I took about 200 coconuts across to Haldia and made a profit of Re 1 on each of them. I have no income now. Should I beg to make ends meet or become a criminal?” he asked.

The lack of communication has affected immunisation programmes. Around 7,000 children could not be administered the polio vaccine on January 7.

The weekly drive to immunise infants has also taken a beating. “We have set up 11 sub-centres in these areas for 2,500 children but the parents are not able to bring them,” said block medical officer Subhabrata Maity.

Nandigram has been in turmoil since January 3, when villagers fought the police and dug up roads in at least 30 places. Seven persons were killed in a gun battle there on the morning of January 7. The ferry operator stopped the service after villagers opposed to land acquisition threatened the boatmen.

“The economy of Nandigram depends on the purchasing power of the residents of Haldia town. They work in establishments like the Indian Oil Corporation, Haldia Petrochemicals, the Mitsubishi unit, the dock and other industries. There is a great demand for commodities supplied by these villagers,” subdivisional officer Shankar Haldar said.

Besides milk and coconut, vegetables, fish and poultry are ferried across the Haldi every day. “A large quantity of fish is supplied from Gangra and Sonachura. Farmers of Keshabpur, Barakeshabpur, Jambati and Maheshpur supply vegetables. Together, the villagers do a business of about Rs 2 lakh daily in Haldia,” said block development officer Ashok Sarkar.

Makhan Dolui, 65, an asthma patient, died on January 8 after his two inhaler sprays were exhausted. His medicines could not be replaced and he could not be taken to hospital, 8 km away, because of the damaged roads.

Most roads are still dug up as many villagers, led by the Trinamul Congress, are refusing to co-operate with the East Midnapore administration.