BHARATIYA J AIN S ANGHATANA (BJS)bjsindia.org/oldwebsite/PDFs/DM_Reports/Bihar.pdf · - half a...

BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA (BJS)

Disaster Management Wing

Bihar Flood Relief Work (01 September 2008 to 28 February 2009)

BJS Bihar Flood Relief Work - 2008

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BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA (BJS)

BIHAR FLOOD RELIEF WORK (01 September 2008 to 28 February 2009)

The Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS): The Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) is a 23-year-old non-profit, social service NGO of national repute, also headquartered at Pune. Spurred by a need to bring about social transformation in India, BJS was established by Mr. Shantilal Muttha, as a non-political, and professionally-managed organisation. BJS has been in the forefront of doing exemplary work in the three fields of Social Service, Disaster Management and Education. BJS is dedicated to nation-building, through providing rehabilitation resources during natural and man-made disasters, creating and promoting excellence in education and addressing social issues, such as conducting mass marriages, medical camps and awareness campaigns. BJS renders all services free of cost to all communities, irrespective of caste or creed. Founded as the Akhil Maharashtra Jain Sanghatana in 1985, it got its present name in 1993 in the wake of the Latur earthquake and was registered as Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana on 18th October 1993. BJS has done considerable work in Disaster Management, since the earthquake in Killari, Latur, Maharashtra, in 1993. Since then it has provided relief after all the disasters and stayed on to work on more permanent projects for long-term rehabilitation in Gujarat, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Jammu & Kashmir and most recently in Bihar. BJS has a strong and live network of activists spread over 28 states, essentially volunteers from the Jain community, who rise to the occasion whenever natural or other disasters occur anywhere. They help in rescue, relief and rehabilitation of all people without any economic or religious discrimination. BJS has fully utilised the resources of this network and collaborated with other organisations in terms of manpower, infrastructure, finance and logistics to reach out to the disaster-hit on time.

Bihar Floods – August 2008: On 19 August 2008, Bihar was devastated by unprecedented flooding. The river Kosi, a major tributary of the Ganga, which flows from Nepal into Bihar, breached its eastern embankment at Kushaha, Nepal, changing its course, submerging hundreds of villages and triggering the worst floods in Bihar in recent times.


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The water discharge from the 1.2 km breach was more than 1.5 lakh cusecs for several weeks. Along the breached embankment, the raging waters swept away people, their villages, their homes, their standing crops and their livestock, in three districts of Bihar. People south of the breach, who survived, have been displaced, their land ravaged, their crops and livestock washed away. Bihar is one of the more populous states of India; hence the number of people distressed by the floods is in millions. The scale of destruction and displacement in the Bihar is much larger than that caused by the Tsunami of 2004. The Government of India declared it a national calamity. Six months later, the sheer expanse of land, once green fields, is covered by sand and standing water and bears testimony to an unimaginable catastrophe and calamity.

Initial figures estimated at least 3 million people had been displaced. Television showed villagers with belongings on their heads, holding on to their animals as they walked the flooded roads. They were seen bartering their animals for a boat ride to safety. People were forced to take refuge on embankments, highways, rooftops; any high ground to escape the raging floods. The immediate need was to move them to safer areas, provide ready-to-eat food packets, clean drinking water, medicines and tents.

� AREA AFFECTED : SUPAUL, ARARIA, MADHEPURA & PURNEA � AFFECTED PERSONS : 1.4 million people � � � � HOUSES DESTROYED : 225,000


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First teams reach Bihar: The first team of volunteers of the Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana reached the Kosi Barrage area of ‘0’ RD and Kumarkhand block in Madhepura District, two of the worst-hit areas, on 01 September 2008.

Our teams comprising of Shri Kantilal Ostwal (Sillod), Shri Deepak Parakh (Chandrapur), Shri Babubhai Oswal (Khopoli) and the teachers and students of Wagholi Educational and Rehabilitation Center (WERC) near Pune, provided relief in the districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Purnea and Supaul. The base office was set up at Saharsa and local volunteers, Shri Pratap Sethiya, Shri Rajesh Jain, Shri Arun Jain and others, manned this office. The team surveyed the area, took stock and made a plan of

action for extending help to the people of the submerged villages around Kusava village. At that point in time, more than 20,000 persons were relocated from the surrounding villages. We immediately started distribution of food packets, clothes and medicines. Our volunteers also assisted about 25,000 people, stranded in 15-20 villages like Ranipur, Jamuha, Idrahi, Rauta, Kusalahi, Parihari, Sukharul, Pohbara and Haribola, moving them to the safety of Kusava village.

Trials and tribulations: Our teams faced many trials and tribulation everyday. But the spirit of providing relief to the needy was primary. The teams would move from Saharsa to Kusawa everyday in the morning and return back to Saharsa in the evening. The roads were so badly damaged by the floodwaters that the vehicles would often get stuck on the flooded roads. It would take more than three hours to cover the distance of 50 kilometres from Saharsa to Kusawa.

The picture from Kusawa village of Madhepura district was grim. The intensity of the floods continued unabated until the breach was plugged at the end of January 2009. The difficult living conditions were made worse with the bad weather, and heavy rains and the extended monsoon. Shri Ashok Pawar of BJS reported that because of incessant rain, the bridge between the villages of Sitapur and Gitapur was in danger of collapsing and that would make it difficult to maintain a link and reach people in this district.


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BJS opened a Help Centre near the Nepal border. To start, food and medicines were distributed to about 3,000 people. The conditions were so difficult that most of the volunteer agencies working in the area left. The villagers from Madhepura district pleaded with our volunteers not to leave them or their village, as they had no other support from any organisation in these remote villages. There was no functional Primary Health Center in a 33-km stretch from this center. The only other center located nearby was found abandoned and had a small packet of medicines. The people were suffering from throat, stomach and eye problems, mainly caused by the flood waters. The group under Dr. Abhijit Vaidya and Dr. Nitin Kelkar from the Sakaal Group worked from 6 am to 12 midnight, since they arrived. Soon a medical camp was setup in Bellari by BJS.

Focus shifts to medical care: By October, the need to distribute food and clothing had minimised. The focus shifted to providing medical care. At Bellari in Madhepura district, the medical camp established in September continued to provide medical care. Dr. Kishore Kawadia from Pune volunteered his time and expertise to the BJS effort and provided medical care to more than 800 people during the 10 days he was in Bellari. A team of doctors from Sane Guruji Hospital, Pune, spent more than a week at the camp. A team of three volunteers from

Nagpur -- Shri Deepak Parakh, Shri Tejraj Gandhi and Shri Prabhakar Dhakore -- provided support to the doctors at the camp along with volunteers from the local Jain community. The generous donation of medicines by Emcure and Pune Merchants Chamber helped to meet some needs at the medical camps. In the immediate aftermath of a calamity, there is little control over the situation. In the ensuing chaos, BJS set up a kitchen in the camps to provide freshly cooked food. Our kitchens were providing freshly cooked food to about 3000 persons per day. During the initial days, our teams were pre-occupied with distribution of fresh food, foodgrains, clothing and medicines. BJS distributed 5000 ready-to-eat packets containing the following items:

- half a kilogram of chivda (beaten rice snack) - 100 grams of sugar - some farsan (snack made of a mix of cereals and pulses) - candles, matchboxes, etc.

The people of Maharashtra, and Pune in particular, donated about 500 huge cartons of clothes, which were distributed to 10,000 persons and 1000 home kits to the SRF. Each


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kit contained a set of clothes for a family, besides kitchen and dining utensils to enable a family to start a temporary kitchen. Donations came from the most unexpected quarters: an army engineer unit donated 100 kits of bucket, utensils, blankets, etc, for individual use. Some donors explicitly requested that they did not want to be publicly acknowledged for their donations.

Mobile hospital in action: An ambulance, donated by the Kesar Gulab Munot Newaskar, a Trust run by the K G Munot family of Pune and Ahmednagar, was flagged off from Pune on 17 October 17 to the camp at Saharsa to be used as a mobile hospital. Shri Abhay Munot, trustee of the K G Munot Newaskar, Shri Rajeev Sabade of the Sakaal Group and Shri Prafulla Parakh, CEO, BJS, were in Saharsa on 22 October, to inaugurate the mobile hospital. The Pune-based Nichrome (providers of integrated

packaging solutions) and Thorat Milk Dairy donated 5,000 litres of fresh milk to SRF and BJS at a ceremony held at the BJS Head Office. This packaged milk with a shelf life of upto six months, was dispatched by train to Bihar. The milk was distributed to children at the premises of Sumrit Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Pratapganj, Supaul, by Shri Roopnarayan Yadav, a senior official from the Development Office on 28 November. At the end of two months, shelter, food and clothing had been disbursed in sufficient quantities. Distribution channels were functioning smoothly. What was falling short was: medical care. The focus of BJS was to reach medical assistance and care to all locations, more so the remote ones. The dire need was for medical staff and medicines. Though there were government doctors available at the block level, there was a severe shortage of medicines.

Role of the local Jain community: The local Jain community has been active in the aftermath of the devastation. A meeting was organised by the Jain Samaj on October 10, 2008. On the agenda was the guidance for the formation of a Sanghatana, as also, the modalities for distribution of relief material. In mid-November, Shri Kantilal Jain and Shri Shrimal met with Shri Udyot Kumar Kothari, Shri Tikamchand Shrimal and Anil Bhandari of Ganpatganj. Also present at this meeting was Shri Pramodchand Bothra from Chhatapur.


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They weighed the pros and cons of establishing a medical camp, each, at the marooned village of Chhatapur and Pratapganj. On the same day, they went to Pratapganj and met with Shri Manmal Parakh, Shri Sampatlal Chhajed, Shri Hanumanmal Ghodawat, Shri Vijay Raj Bhadani and Shri Vijayraj Chhajed (correspondent, Hindustan). They arrived at the consensus to move the camps to Pratapganj and Chhatapur. Our camps were moved to Pratapganj and Chhatapur in November. These areas were still water-logged. Chhatapur had no access by road, as it was surrounded by water and remained cut off. It took almost two to three hours by boat to reach Chhatapur. The medical camp at Pratapganj was inaugurated on 21 November in the presence of the officers of the Block Development Office and the members of the Jain community. Shri Kantilal and Shri Shrimal spoke on the relief and rehabilitation work done by BJS in the many natural calamities before this, and mentioned the collaborative support given by the Sakal Relief Fund. The BDO thanked BJS for the extensive relief work. Inspired by the visit of Shri Shantilal Muttha in September and moved by the plight of the people affected by the floods, Shri Taj Bahadur Singh Baid, arranged a meeting of the Jain community at Pratapganj. At this meeting, the responsibility was vested on Shri Udyout Kumar Kothari and Shri Tikamchand Shrimal, to connect with other social service organizations and the local people and establish an organisation to do social service work by the local Jain community. Mr. Prafulla Parakh was at Pratapganj, Ganpatganj and Chhatapur from 11-13 December. He was met by representatives of 19 panchayats from the Chhatapur area. They appreciated the work done by BJS. They expressed disappointment and neglect by other agencies. Some made a deliberate mention that ours were the only agencies to have reached them. The representatives of these 19 remote panchayats have pleaded with Mr. Prafulla Parakh to continue to provide medical care. ( A video recording of meeting). While at Pratapganj, Mr. Prafulla Parakh made a detailed investigation and study of the feasibility of their request. It was recommended that we operate two fixed medical camps from Pratapganj and Chhatapur and one mobile medical facility.


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This mobile facility will provide medical care to eight clusters of panchayats, which will cover all the 19 remote villages. The mobile medical facility was planned to camp for two days at a location and then move to the next and cover all eight clusters in rotation, returning back to the first location on the 17th day. Two medical teams, one at Pratapganj and the other manning the mobile camp, comprised of a doctor, a paramedic, a helper and a driver, each. The team at Chhatapur camp was one less; they did not need the driver, as there are no roads to drive on! The need for medical support is so great that it was decided that the camps continue until the end of February 2009. On an average about 1000 people were given medical attention per day at the 5 camps. The plan for the mobile facility to operate was from the following places:

Panchayat Other panchayats Location of mobile camp

1. Bhattabari Cheenari Mr. Prakash Jha’s residence 2. Rampur Siddrika Chowk Lalpur Panchayat Bhavan 3. Tilathi Sangakril Vidalaya Pariyahi Panchayat Bhavan 4. Daharia Dahariya Panchayat Bhavan 5. Ghiwa Yatri Shed, Ghiwa 6. Khuti Laxmipur Primary School, Kathipur 7. Madhopur Bhagwatpur Lalji Chowk Yatri Shed 8. Jhakarghar Kathohara +36 RD Ganeshi Singh’s Mohalla

Mr. Prafulla Parakh also prepared a list of the diseases afflicting the local people. Also arrangements for bulk purchase, at wholesale rates, of relevant medicines from Patna were made.

Locations Where Relief Was Provided:

PRATAPGANJ BELLARI CHHATAPUR KUMARKHAND ‘0’ RD

KUSWAHA SAHARSA GANPATGANJ MADHEPURA

Visit by Shantilal Muttha:

Mr. Shantilal Muttha, National President and Founder, BJS, along with Mr. Taj Bahadur Singh Baid, State President of Bihar, BJS, visited the ‘0’ Rd Relief camp and the medical camp run by BJS. Enroute at Ganpatganj, Mr. Muttha met with the local Jain community and gave an overview of the work done by BJS during and after earlier calamities across India.

The work done by BJS has received wide coverage in the newspapers of Bihar. The Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar, visited our camp and was impressed with the work


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done. The National President of JDU, Shri Sharad Yadav, and the Minister for Revenue and Land Development, Shri Narendra Yadav, too visited our camps on separate occasions and acknowledged and appreciated the work done. The local people too have expressed their gratefulness for the help provided to them, especially the people from the remote inaccessible areas where our volunteers went braving the flood waters, the heavy rains and the oppressive heat. The breach in the embankment was plugged completely by the end of January 2009. People, especially from areas, marooned due to water logging, continued to use the camp. Health and hygiene was a serious issue. BJS has organized check-ups with the help of government doctors and has been distributing medicines at mobile health camps. BJS with Sakal Relief Fund continues to provide medical care through the medical camps at Pratapganj and Chhatapur. Assessing the need for medical care, it was decided to close the camps by 28 February 2009.

Our volunteers: our greatest asset Our volunteers have been our greatest asset. From 01 September 2008, teams comprising of BJS office bearers, doctors and volunteers manned the camps. The local Jain community also joined hands to help. Every week a team of 4 to 6 volunteers from BJS went to the camp, some staying on for more than a week. Shri Manoj Jha, the media representative of the Sakal Group of Newspapers has provided excellent local liaison to our teams throughout the six months.

WAGHOLI EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION CENTRE (WERC) HOSTEL

Shri. Sunil Nikam Shri. Sanjay Darandale Shri. Rameshwar Jadhav Shri. Dutta Gaikawad Shri. Kalyan Aaivale Shri. Maruti Sontakke Shri. Dhanamjay Jadhav Shri. Nilesh Sasvade

Shri. Somnath Kshirsagar Shri. Rahul Pawar Shri. Nagesh B. K Shri. Sanjay Gore Shri. Rahul Kadam Shri. Gorakh Shete Shri. Nilesh Sasvade


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WAGHOLI EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION CENTER (WERC) SCHOOL Shri. Ashok Pawar

Shri. Gajanan Bhosle Shri. Chandan Khede

Shri. Somnath Jagdale

Shri. Sonavane Manohar Shri. Thorat Sadashiv

Shri. Pravin Doshi Shri. Prasanth Choudhari

BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA COLLEGE

Shri. Balu Suryavanshi Shri. Ahuje Dr. Mohan Shinde

Shri. Amol Kedari Shri. Sanjay Shinde

BHARATIYA JAIN SANGHATANA SCHOOL

Shri. Hodke C.R Shri. Khande Dadarao Shri. Sanjay Mathephod

Shri. Jeevan Shinde Shri. Vilas Gunjal Shri. Lokhde Raju

DOCTORS

Dr. Piyush Bathiya Dr. Rahul Kadam Dr. Chetan Patil Dr. Vivek Kale

Dr. Krantiveer Kale Dr. Gorakh Shetti Dr. Kawadia, Pune


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BJS OFFICE-BEARERS

Shri Babubhai Oswal, Khopoli Shri Kantilal Ostwal, Sillod Shri Deepak Parakh, Chandrapur, Shri Ratnakar Mahajan, Hingoli

Shri Kantilal Shrishrimal,Pochana Shri Tejmal Gandhi, Hinganghat Shri Prabhakar Dhakore, Nagpur

BJS VOLUNTEERS FROM BIHAR

Shri Taj Bahadur Singh Baid Shri Pratap Sethiya

Shri Rajesh Jain Shri Arun Jain

BIHAR BJS WING

Shri Udyot Kumar Kothari Shri Pramod Chandra Bothra Shri Tikamchand Srimal Shri Manmalji Parakh Shri Anil Kumar Bhandari Shri Vijayraj Bhadani Shri Ashok Vadliya Shri Narendra Kumar Khajanchi

Shri Gautam Chand Bhandari Shri Vinay Kumar Jain Shri Bhikamchand Bhadani Shri Navratan Mal Vaid Shri Chandanmalji Nahata Shri Sunil Kumar Mohanka Shri Manakchand Bhadani

The volunteers of BJS, whether local or from other states, have served with missionary zeal, unmindful of the flooding, the heavy rains and high temperatures, with little regard for their comfort. BJS extend with deep gratitude their appreciation to all volunteers, who selflessly worked and volunteered their time and efforts. Sakal Relief Fund and BJS thank all the


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donors for the overwhelming generosity with which they have given food, clothes and medicines. BJS acknowledges the strong support provided by the Sakal Relief Fund, an initiative of The Sakaal Media Group, which has a long-standing commitment towards philanthropic services to the community, since 1932. The Sakaal Group’s responsibility as a media

house is to play a catalytic role, working with credible NGOs or federations of NGOs.

During the period of 181 days, from 01 September 2008 to 28 February 2009, BJS has provided fresh food, food packets, clothes, home kits and medical care to about two lakh (2,00,000) people through its camps. Most importantly, funds needed to meet operational costs and the cost of medicines procured locally (over and above medicines we received as donations), were funded by Sakal Relief Fund.

This service, to the people in Bihar, affected by one of the worst tragedies in recent memory, has given BJS a deep sense of fulfillment, of having provided some hope and succour during times of great trial and tribulation. The Jain community has long been known for its generosity and philanthropy and has always come forward to provide valuable support services to society

during calamities. BJS has a strong network of educational institutions run by Jain Trusts, which are located in practically every district of this country as also BJS offices located in some states. Mobilisation and deployment of volunteers from the community, for relief work in a well-organised manner, is done within a few days. All the work done by BJS in providing relief and rehabilitation has been at our own initiative and at no cost to the government.

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Proposed REHABILITATION WORK

In the aftermath of a major calamity in any part of the country, BJS has always stayed on to extend long term benefits to the people of the affected area through construction of permanent facilities. The need in flood-affected areas of Bihar today, is to provide to the people in the villages a permanent facility that will function as a relief center during calamities and as a community center during the rest of the time.


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In Bihar, construction of Multi-Utility Community Centers (MUCC) is proposed at the following places:

� SAHARSA � PRATAP GANJ � CHATTAPUR � GANPAT GANJ

After the experience during the recent flooding, the local communities have expressed the dire need for such a facility. Flooding in these areas is an annual feature and the people need help during that period. The design of these centers is recommended to be such that during a calamity, the centers will function as a hub for relief and social work. During the rest of the year they will be used for local community work, such as a place to host family functions or the local community may wish to run free school, and other such social activities. A preliminary enquiry about the feasibility of constructing such centers has been conducted. The Bihar Government policy permits NGOs to construct community centers, internal roads and drainage systems within the villages. On its part, the Government provides for the construction of major infrastructure such as main roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, etc. BJS proposes the building of only the community centers. The feasibility of acquiring land from the Bihar government has been examined. The process of acquiring land for even a social cause is very tedious and involves a sanction from the Chief Minister. Also, the procedures of the Government of Bihar are such that it may take years, if not forever, to get the land. After the recent experience during the flooding, some members of the local Jain community, in many of the affected villages, are willing to allocate a part of their privately owned land for the construction of the MUCCs. The Jain community in these villages has collectively come forward to bear the cost of this land in their respective villages for the social cause. Shri Prafulla Parakh has personally seen the land in some of the villages during my visit and found it very suitable and ideally located for the construction of MUCCs. The MUCC is proposed to be of about 2000 sq. ft each and the design incorporates the use of minimal material for its construction. It is proposed that the structure be built on stilts so as to prevent the floodwaters from entering the Center. The first floor will have the main hall, two rooms and toilets. The first floor and the terrace above it would be used for community activities and the ground floor stilt area may be used as parking space, thereby optimizing the use of the land and the building at all times. The estimated cost is approximately Rs. 1000/- per sq. ft. (inclusive of the stilt and terrace areas) and the total cost of a 2000 sq.ft. MUCC is expected to be about Rs. 20 lakhs. We are working out the floor plan in detail. Thus, for the construction of the MUCC, the BJS local unit will arrange for the land and the cost of construction of the building is under consideration to be funded by Sakal Relief Fund.

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