Around 1,000 residents of Muragacha in North 24-Parganas’s Hansnabad raised a road blockade on Wednesday to protest against alleged absence of relief materials.
Accusing the Amlani gram panchayat run by the Trinamul Congress of not supplying them with basic relief items, the villagers holding empty plates blocked the arterial Hansnabad-Bhebia road for about two hours until senior officials rushed to the spot and assured them of addressing their grievance.
Local sources said anger had been brewing for the past few days among the Muraghacha residents over the absence of essential items. Most of them are day wage earners who are out of work now because of the Covid-19-induced lockdown.
A woman, who took part in the protest, said: “We have no money because of the lockdown. We are not in a position to buy basic items. The panchayat authorities are not helping us. Except for 5kg of rice as rations and Rs 500 deposited in our bank accounts, we have got nothing. We will die if there is no help.”
Local panchayat member of Trinamul Ananda Das, who joined the agitation, said: “Most of the residents are struggling to survive in the absence of food. They regularly approached me for help but the panchayat did not come forward. I had informed Trinamul leaders about the problem but they did not help me.”
Senior Trinamul leader and zilla parishad member Feroz Kamal Gazi later held a meeting with the villagers and promised to send essential items from Thursday.
Quarantine protest
Around 300 labourers, who were stuck in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad since March 20 and sheltered at a quarantine centre, agitated there for the lack of food and drinking water.
The labourers from Birbhum and Murshidabad contacted the Bangla Sanskriti Mancha seeking administrative help. “We have contacted the administration of both the districts seeking help to solve the issue,” said Mancha chief Samirul Islam.
Miraj Sheikh, a labourer, told over the phone from Dhanbad: “We are not getting food and drinking water here. We want to go to home because we have completed our quarantine.”
