Hunger has forced a 26-year-old tribal woman to walk 13km under a blazing sun in search of food with her six-month-old son on shoulders — a trek that captured the helplessness of the deprived sections of the society at a time the lockdown has dried up income opportunities at villages across the country.

Margaret Hansda, a resident of Baniapukur village under Deotala panchayat of Gazole block in Malda district, came to the block headquarter on Friday as she could not arrange food for her three children during the lockdown.

Chandan Tudu, her husband, is away in Bangalore and stuck there. His family back home has been finding it difficult to fend for themselves.

On Friday morning, Margaret left the village with her youngest child with the hope to get some food grains for the children. “I am not concerned of myself. The only challenge is to feed my children twice a day. The youngest of my kids is six months old. I also have a three-and-a-half year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son,” she said.

Ever since the lockdown started, the tribal woman and her children had been surviving on broken rice grains, which she used to collect from the paddy husk, disposed outside a rice mill in her locality.

“I would salvage the broken rice grains from the husk and could somehow feed the children once a day. But for the past few days, even that is unavailable near the rice mill. I was left with no other option but to leave two other children with the neighbours and head for Gazole with the youngest to try and arrange some food grains. I also did not have a penny to pay for conveyance,” Margaret added.

Her family, she said, do not have a single ration card as her husband could not pay to get the cards for them. Asked what had prompted her to go to Gazole if she didn’t have a ration card, Margaret replied that she had come with the hope that “boro boro babus” (high officials) might help her.

She was lucky that a police team near the Gazole police station spotted her and after a brief conversation, took her to Haradhan Deb, the officer-in-charge.

Deb spoke to her and immediately arranged rice, pulses, edible oil and some basic grocery items for her.

The sudden deluge of help was such a surprise for her that Margaret, with the baby on her lap, started crying. “Good that I walked all the way… Now, we can survive for two weeks,” she mumbled.

As she could not trudge back home with the baby and the packets that police men gave her, the cops also arranged a vehicle for her.

Alok Rajoria, the superintendent of police of Malda, said they would help Margaret and her family in all possible ways.

“We would also see if in consultation with the officials concerned, the family could get ration cards,” Rajoria said.

Clashes

Violence gripped parts of Malda over distribution of rations on Friday. Police had to rush to Ghoshpara in Habibpur after local people detained a rice-laden truck, claiming that the sacks of rice were being smuggled from the local ration shop.

Also, ruckus over ration started at Gopalpur under Baishnabnagar police stations and cops had to intervene to control the situation as a scuffle ensued between locals and some associates of a ration dealer.