Dear Editor,
Reference is made to “Bonasika tragedy” (January 10) – the editorial on the mother and daughter who were crushed to death when their dilapidated house collapsed. I saw some pictures by Dr. Vishnu Bandhu distributing holiday hampers to families with houses not much different from the collapsed house. These dwellings are reminiscent of the indentureship era. As the pictures reveal, things have not changed that much since colonial times. The poor is still neglected in what is supposed to be a socialist county.
As your editorial rightly queried, how could observers, passersby, political figures, and government staff not notice that the Chandra/Sookdeo family needed help? Clearly, this humble family lived in unimagined decrepit conditions. How could government workers have missed the family in their house-to-house engagement with the public? Staff went out to gather information on distributing various grants (Covid stimulus), hampers to the poor, flood grants, school uniform and We Care grants, and other types of social welfare grants. Staff supposedly went house to house. When the grants were given out, was this family missed? No staff took notice that a house was missed? Did the staff inform superiors of what they saw, or that a house with kids was missed, or that children in that location were not registered for school? No one came back to check on the family! The responsible ministries, past and present, failed the Chandra/Sookdeo family.
One silver lining is, I learn that Minister Indar Deodat and other government officials (regional and local NDC) have reached out to the family, as well as other families that recently experienced tragedies and have provided much needed assistance during their bereavement. What we need is pro-active work to prevent these kinds of tragedies. I endorse the editorial’s suggestion that the Natural Resource Fund should be used to address extreme poverty like housing and job creation, rather than massive white elephant projects. The poor should be the priority for the NRF.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram
