Salboni (East Singhbhum), Feb. 9: The Sabar tribes, one of the oldest in the Chhottanagpur Plateau, are battling for survival.

Two small hamlets — Darisai and Ghutia — located only a kilometre from the NH-33 on the Tata Ghatshila road, about 26 km from Jamshedpur, narrate a tale of neglect and despair.

The Darisai village, once dominated by over 200 Sabar families, is today left with a mere 11 consisting of only 47 people.

Their homes, constructed under the ambitious Indira Awas Yojna, have been washed away in the rains while the remains have been bought by local businessmen.

Every year, at least four children die in these hamlets and due to the unavailability of nutritious food, most opt for alcohol to keep them going.

“If the situation doesn’t improve in the next five years then no Sabar will be left in the region,” said Bramhachari Sukhdev, head of Mahamilan Sevashram Sangha, the only welfare organisation here.

Most families claimed that they were displaced when the Birsa Agricultural Centre came up in the 1960s.

A survey performed by local NGO Vyakti Vikas Kendra reveals that families here do not reap any benefits of the public distribution system.

“Middlemen are exploiting us because we are not educated. We have not even received government funds, which were allotted for the upliftment of our race,” added Sukhdev.

The panchayat centre built by the Bharat Sevashram Sangha sees officers only once or twice a week and a community centre where locals were to receive vocational training is lying deserted.

“The locals are talented but lack of monetary aid has led to this situation,” said Sanjay an executive at Vyakti Vikas Kendra.

Middlemen have held their ration cards and the villagers could only produce a copy of the ration card, that too, by fetching it from a nearby village.

Officers at the local block development office in Ghatshila resorted to a blame game.

“This area is beyond our jurisdiction and the government is in no position to help them. Moreover, the departments concerned have been given the charge to help the families in these villages,” said Arjun Manjhi, the Ghatshila block welfare officer.