A woman weighs onions at Sapalpur village. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Phulwarisharif, Aug. 23: Floods have forced the people to go back in time and fall back upon the barter system to sustain living.

Residents of Sapalpur village are getting cowdung cakes — the only fuel available to them for cooking in times of flood — in exchange of onion. Around 5,000 people live in the village.

The water of Punpun river has entered the surrounding areas and has made life miserable for the 75,000 people living there. The flood has affected all kinds of services and villagers have no option but to fall back on the age-old transaction system.

“Flood has affected our lives badly and there is nothing with which we can cook food. Cowdung cakes are the only option. However, even that is not available everywhere because there are few people who have cows and buffaloes in this village. We have to give around 3kg of onion to get 50 pieces of cowdung cakes,” Mansukhia Devi, a villager, told The Telegraph.

The villagers are not able to buy kerosene or charcoal because they have to travel around 2-3km and given the circumstances, it is impossible for them to do so.

“We cannot go out of our houses to buy kerosene as the public distribution system shop is quite far from here. The only way to reach the shop is by boats, which is also not available. The boats that are here are only for the government officials who come here sometimes to take stock of things,” said Ram Naresh Yadav, another villager.

The villagers who have access to cowdung are taking special care to ensure that they are kept in a warm place after it dries. “We cannot leave the dung in open space once it dries up. The water level here is increasing all the time and it would be wasted if it gets wet,” said Dharmendra Singh, another villager.

The villagers are using cowdung cakes very carefully these days. Most of the villagers are surviving on rice and pulses, as there are no other vegetables available. Many are surviving just on rice and jaggery. Under such situation cowdung cakes have become very expensive where not even a single piece is being wasted.

On the issue of the non-availability of kerosene, Shyam Rajak, the food and consumer protection minister, said: “It is very disappointing that the villagers are facing such a crisis. It has come to my notice on Sunday and I have asked the officials concerned to provide kerosene and other grocery at a place from where the villagers will not have any difficulty in obtaining them.”

He added that it is very difficult to fight the vagaries of nature.