Some Important Communications on Marichjhanpi
Letter of Sri Jyoti Basu to the State Rehabilitation Minister
on the rehabilitation camp refugees

July 13, 1961.
Sri P. C. Sen
Minister, Refugee, Relief & Rehabilitation,
Government of West Bengal
Dear Sri Sen,
Prolonged hunger-strike by the refugees lasting for more than a month in almost all camps in West Bengal has proved beyond doubt strong reluctance on the part of the refugees toaccept the proposal of the Government regarding their rehabilitation in Dandakaranya. As a matter of fact there has been no movement of refugees to Dandakaranya though they have been put to serious hardships and untold sufferings due to stoppage of doles. For more than a month refugees in almost all the camps have been on hunger-strike to voice their protest. It is unlikely that there will be a change in attitude of camp refugees if they are subjected to further hardships and sufferings. Such experiment is also fraught with serious consequences. Left to their own fate these camps families will hardly be able to rehabilitate themselves properly and will be a burden on the State, I, therefore, urge upon you to reconsider the policy of the Government in respect of rehabilitation of camp refugees to prevent further deterioration in the situation.
The primary issues involved now is not continuation of doles to camp refugees for an unlimited period but their early rehabilitation and restoration of doles till that is achieved. We do not think that the rehabilitation of camp refugees in a manner acceptable to them is so very difficult as is often being suggested by the Government. For example, the families now in Sonarpur group of camps may be easily fitted in Herobhanga Second Scheme. Families now in Asrafabad group of camps may also be absorbed in the camp site which is an abandoned rehabilitation colony, the land of which is already in possession of the Government and in Ashoknagar colony if the families are given facility of changing their category. Coopers Camp can be liquidated in its present site if the government implements the present scheme of converting that into a township with some modification. Families now in Gopalpur and Kaksa camps in the District of Burdwan may also be partially absorbed in Durgapur Industrial area and partially in land elsewhere. Families now in the camps in the district of Midnapur may be rehabilitated in Garbeta Scheme. Such illustration may be multiplied. If the refugees are given due facility for rehabilitation through bainanama scheme as well as change of occupational category in addition to the measures suggested above the rehabilitation of all families is now in camps may be completed within a very reasonable period and with much less cost than in places outside West Bengal. The number of such families is now almost half of what it was earlier and many have found rehabilitation in West Bengal although it was stated by the Government that West Bengal has reached a saturation point. I feel, therefore, that the rest may be found rehabilitation here provided there is willingness on the part of the Govt. The enthusiasm that will be generated among the refugees if such a policy is accepted will be no mean an asset for their proper rehabilitation. It is needless to dwell upon the necessity of restoration and continuation of doles during the period prior to their rehabilitation.
It has been made clear from our side times without number that despite the policy set out above for rehabilitation in West Bengal, there may be families who may be willing to go to Dandakaranya and we do not object to their going.
My views on the problem have been briefly outlined in the previous paragraphs. I believe that there is a scope for discussion on the matter for finding a proper solution to it. I am, however, going abroad for a short period, I shall try to meet you later when I come back. But in the meantime I request you to have discussion with the representatives of U. C. R. C., who will seek interview with you.
Yours sincerely
Sd. Jyoti Basu


Letter of Shri Samar Mukherji to the Prime Minister on the rehabilitation camp refugees.

Ref No. 24/61 27th July, 1961

From : Shri Samar Mukherji, M. L. A.,
General Secretary, All India Council
of East Pakistan Displaced Persons,
93/1A, Bipin Behari Ganguli Street,
CALCUTTA-12

To : Shri Jawaharlal Nehru,
Prime Minister of India,
NEW DELHI

Sub : Rehabilitation of East Bengal Refugees
now in Camp

Sir,
A grave situation has developed due to continued hunger strike by groups of refugees in almost all the camps in West Bengal. The hunger strike was first started by two batches of refugees of Kalabani and Sarasanka camps in the district of Midnapore on 6th June last. Since then it has spread to almost all the camps and at persent there are about 100 refugees on hunger-strike in different camps.
2. We do not propose to deal with the various problems of other sections of refugees which are nonetheless acute. We like to restrict us here only to the problems of camp refugees because their solution brooks no further delay.
3. The hunger strike by the Camp refugees was started as a mark of protest against the measures of the Government to send them to Dandakaranya against their will and under compulsion by service of notice on them with the option of going to Dandakaranya or to quit the camp within a period of 30 days. It is far from truth that the purpose of the present movement is to continue payment of doles eternally and to delay the liquidation of camps. On the contray, the main aspect of the present movement is for the demand of their quick rehabilitation in different schemes started or proposed in West Bengal by the Government and through bainanama scheme together with the facility of changing their occupational category.
4. Such demands by refugees are not only realistic but also can be implemented within a very reasonable period and at a cost lower than that for schemes outside West Bengal. This will be borne out by the following illustrations. There are about 1000 families now in Sonarpur group of camps. All these families may be rehabilitated in Herobhanga 2nd scheme which was announced by the Govt. long ago but has not yet been implemented for reasons best know to them. About 600 families of Asrafabad Camp may be rehabilitated at the present site of the Camp which is the site of an unsuccessful rehabilitation Colony as well as in the nearby Ashokenagar Colony where a large number of plots are lying vacant. Coopers Camp may be liquidated in its present site if the Goverment implements the proposed scheme of converting the camp into a township with some modification. Families now in Gopalpur and Kaksa Camps in the district of Burdwan may be absorbed in Durgapore Industrial area. Families now in the camps of Midnapur District may be rehabilitated in Carbeta Scheme where it was proposed to accommodate 1500 familes. But only 350 families have been sent there uptill now. It will not be out of place to mention that in reply to a memorandum submitted in 1958 the West Bengal Government said that about 13,000 families may be settled on fallow lands in Garbata. Such illustrations may be multiplied without any difficulty. We can dare say that if the refugees are given due facility for rehabilitation through bainanama Scheme together with the facility for change of category in addition to the measures stated above their rehabilitation in a manner acceptable to them will not prove so difficult as is often suggested by the Government. It should also be mentioned here that the West Bengal Government stated in 1959 that of the 39,000 bainanamas executed by the camp refugees 21 thousand would be implemented. But not more than 50% of those have been implemented. These along with other measures were suggested to the state Government long ago. If these were adopted in time the camps would have been liquidated long ago and the present undesirable situation would neither have arisen nor the question of rehabilitation of camp refugees in Dandakaranya.
5. It should also be made clear that despite such a policy there might be families who may like to go to Dandakaranya. There can be no objection to that. It will thus be clear that the present movement has nothing to do with opposition to Dandakaranya project as a whole. The movement only opposes sending refugees to Dandakaranya against their will when there is sufficient scope for their rehabilitation in West Bengal in a manner desired by them. It should also be mentioned here that the Chief Minister of West Bengal as well as the Governor of the State gave assurances in categorical terms that no refugee will be sent outside West Bengal against his will. 6. It will be seen that the coercive methods adopted by the Government for sending refugees to Dandakaranya have failed in as much as only 5% of families served with notices have gone to Dandakaranya. A stalemate has reached in respect of rehabilitation of camp refugees. Any further experiment with such a policy is fraught with serious consequences. Left to their own fate these camp families will be hardly able to rehabilitate themselves properly and will ultimately be a burden on the meager resources of the State. A rethinking of the whole question has, therefore, been necessary both for the proper solution of the problem and on human considerations.
7. It is high time that you should intervene immediately into the matter to prevent further deterioration in the situation which will result in loss of life of a few refugees and untold sufferings to many others as well as for a satisfactory solution of the problem.
Yours faithfully
Sd. Samar Mukherjee



MEMORANDUM TO THE MEMBERS OF
PARLIAMENT WHEN THEY VISITED MARICHJHAPI

To
Shri Prasannabhai Mehta
Leader, Enquiry Committee
Regarding Police Firing and other
inhuman torture on homeless, helpless
refugees at Netaji Nagar (Marichjhapi)
Sundarban, 24 Parganas, W. Bengal.
Dated : 22nd March, 1979

Sub: Refugees from Dandrk to Sundarban

Respected Sir,
On behalf of thirty thousand refugees of Marichjhapi, I beg to submit the following for your kind and sympathetic considerations. For 12 to 15 years, we were forced to live subhuman lives in various transit camps in Mana under retired Army personnel, were assaulted and tortured brutally by camp authorities and by the state police on various fabricated/concocted grounds lodged by the Army personnel and his pet groups in the local administration. We lost lives in police firing now and then, when we wanted to redress our sufferings and salvation of our longstanding problems through proper enquiry/investigation. From time to time, we were arrested in the mana camp and the modesty of our young girls were molested by the local employees/C. R. P./Police/S. A. F. and they let loose oppression on ordinary refugees. Even to-day, a large number of refugees is still in jails or has cases in different courts in Dandakaranya area.
In rehabilitation centres/sites whether in Dandakaranya or in other states we had to live like cows and buffaloes in slaughter houses having little security of lives.
In Dandakaranya,
i) 3 to 5 acres of land divided into 4 to 5 plots and were allotted to each migrant families at a distance of 4 to 5 km. The villages were completely barren, covered with stony, sandy mud without any water supply facilities.
ii) The offices, markets, hospitals, ration distributing centres, etc., were located in far away places. The distance may be 15 to 20 km. from different villages and rehabilitation centres.
iii) Irregular payments of inadequate cash doles/rations/ medicines etc. from places far away from migrant villages reflect the harassment to migrants. The system of paying low wages to the refugees regularly adds to the harassment.
iv) Ill-treatment of local authorities and the hostility of the Adivasis, lack of security and modesty of women and of justice compelled the migrant to desert their respective Rehabilitation sites/centres from February 1978. They took this decision as they were unable to find any way out of redressing their unlimited sufferings and fulfillment of their basic demands of effective resettlement through repeated prayers to the D. R. O. New Delhi.
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The Left Front parties longed to resettle East Bengal refugees in Sunderban area from the very begining after the partition. Now and then, they consoled the migrants outside Bengal through mass meetings held for protesting police oppressions and other difficulties facing them with the promises that they would help the migrants to resettle in Sundarban if lime would allow the Left Front to come to power, with the instruction/consent of Shri Jyoti Basu, honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Ram Chatterjee, Hon’ble State Minister for Civil Defence accompanied by Shri Ashoke Ghosh, the Secretary of the Forward Block... went to Dandakaranya and other states to visit Migrant’s position and conditions with their own eyes and to console them to their future steps of effective resettlement as promised from time to time.
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The refugees coming from Dandakaranya gathered in Hasanabad and camped there nearly two months to find out proper way of earnings, livings and the policy and principles of the State Government towards refugees at Hasanabad.
After residing 15/20 days at Kumirmari without any obstruction from local authorities, we entered into plantation, Bagna, Marichjhapi in 24 Pargonas.
We started our new lives with a full arrangement of daily consumption such as living house, school, markets, roads, hospital, tubewells, etc. We managed to findout sources of income, also establishing cottage industry such as Bidi factory, Bakery, Carpentry, Weaving factory etc. and also built embankment nearly 150 miles long covering an area of nearly 30 thousand acres of land to be used for fishing, expecting an income of Rs. 20 crores per year. That may easily help and enable us to stand on our own feet. Moreover, after one or two years washing by rain water, preventing saline water to flow over, these lands will yield a lot of crops such as paddy and other vegetables.
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We have distributed lands to Marichjhapi among six thousands refugee families in the shape of paras, villages and anchals. Nearly a thousand families built their houses in different plots in group system and have been residing there about a year.
Police Attack in Marichjhapi
On 20 August 1978, after long five months to our entry into Marichjhapi, the Government of West Bengal came to Marichjhapi with 30 launches carrying a large number of police to take back refugees to Dandakaranya. Their continued presence for 15 days failed to bring back a single family to Dandakaranya. This led to the attack of police on the refugees (Police launches) ran over 43 boats, breaking into pieces and also opened fire resulting deaths of two young refugee boys. The police with the help of the CPI(M) followers attacked the boats of the refugees. The refugees ran away leaving their 157 boats behind loaded with timber and firewood costing nearly Rs, 3.50 lakhs including the cost of the boats.
The blockade
In the first week of November 1978, a news item published in the Ananda Bazar Patrika that the Govt. would not disturb the refugees in Marichjhapi. But the Govt, again rushed to Marichjhapi on 24th January 1978 with more power and means to oust the refugees forcibly, and send back to Dandak as soon as possible before 31 March and seized by imposing Section 144 of I. P. C. all over the river around Marichjhapi, prevented the entry of food grains and other necessary commodities, water, medicine etc. from the nearest village, market, i.e. Kumirmari, Mollakhali, Satjelia etc. making the Marichjahpi completely isolated from all other civilized places.
The Attack
From the morning of 24 January ’79 police started the oppression with the help of 30 launches and two steamers of B. S. F. by bursting teargas shell towards Marichjhapi, arrested people from their living houses in different plots by breaking down and setting fire to the house. They also looted all the articles i.e. food grains, clothing, bell-metal, plates, glass, brass pitches, gold ornaments, iron made articles, hard cash etc. The police also did not hesitate to outrage the modesty of our women including three young girls. The police launches ran over refugee boats carrying food grains and necessary commodities. They beat the drowning passengers severely and prevented them from getting to the shore.
After a strong and strict barricade for 7 days, on 31.1.79, Refugee women, afraid of starvation death, attempted to cross the Bagna river to collect food and water from Kumirmari, the nearest village. The police with their launches attacked the boats in the river by throwing teargas shells violently, drowned the boats by dashing with the launches and attacked the drowning women by running over them repeatedly. The refugees standing on the otherside (Plantation) became impatient for fear of their painful death... and beating of the police, they rushed to help them by boats and also became the victim of the cruel police attack. By the by, the refugees and the local people gathered there to protest the brutal actions of the police on hungry helpless refugees. The police became angry and opened fire indiscriminately resulting... death of 15 refugees and two local people including one woman.
The police arrested a large number of refugees, wounded persons, beating severely by gun barrels and pressed with boot-soles. The police by day and night strictly barricaded the island, started inhuman torture on the refugees everywhere, resulting arrest of nearly a thousand refugees including 500 persons selling and carrying food grains. Vegetables, clothing, etc. 375 persons died of starvation and diseases from consuming totally unfit food, 2 persons committed suicide by hanging, seizing of 100 boats loaded with food grains and other necessary commodities amounting a total loss of Rs. 4,15,142.00.
We protest strongly against some comments of Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal on our activities in Marichjhapi.
(i) We are not establishing any parallel Government in Marichjhapi. We are poor and helpless people in the world having no place to live in. Any person may visit to see our condition from the very begining we are ready to talk with the Government. We are Indian citizens and are loyal to the Indian Constitution. It in quite impossible on the part of helpless, homeless poor refugees to form a parallel Government. Mr. Jyoti Basu accused us of running a parallel Government having connection with foreign powers only use as a pretext to oust the refugees from Marichjhapi. The accusation is a total lie.
(ii) We never demanded homeland. Even we do not know the definition of homeland. We never delivered any speech or published anything regarding homeland. We never brought any person from Khulna of Bangladesh.
Under the Circumstances stated above, the Udbastu Unnayan Samity and the homeless, helpless hungry refugees, may we earnestly request you to consider the following demands for immediate implementation.
Demands
1) Immediate removal/withdrawal of all sorts of police barricades including u/s 144 of the I. P. C. relating to reserve forest from all the rivers around Marichjhapi, as it is not a reserve forest.
2) Immediate judicial enquiries are to be ordered in all the past events of police oppression and police firing of refugees on 31.1.79 with adequate compensation of the lost lives to their relatives and other compensation of foodgrains including boats, breaking down of houses, other valuables looted by the police.
3) Our basic demand is for effective resettlement in our beloved Marichjhapi bearing a lot of good hopes and bright future to the distressed and deprived Topshil (scheduled caste) refugees who have lost so many lives and last farthing of their whole life’s earning.
4) An immediate release order may be passed to the refugees in Jail (arrested) under various sections, with the withdrawals of all cases against the refugees including refugee-ladies without any condition.

With best regards,


Yours sincerely,
(Sd/-) Raiharan Baroi
General Secretary
Udbastu Unnayanshil Samity
Netaji Nagar, Marichjhapi
P.O. Kumirmari 24 Parganas (W.B.)