People's Democracy

THE relief work organised by the All India State Government Employees Federation (AISGEF) all over the country, reached the people of Gujarat from August 13 to 15.

The AISGEF collected about Rs 22 lakh from all over the country for relief to the victims of Gujarat carnage. The organisation asked the Gujarat state committee of the CPI(M) to make a survey and suggest how the relief money could be distributed among the most needy. On that basis, the CPI(M) prepared a list of about 500 families who it found to be most hit and most needy.

Accordingly, a five-member AISGEF delegation distributed the relief money to six centres in Ahmedabad, to centres in Himmatnagar, Modasa and Santarampur in Sabarkanta district, and to centres in Baroda. The AISGEF delegation consisted of its chairman R G Karnik, general secretary Sukomal Sen, Ajoy Mukherjee, S Ray Chaudhury and B Ghosh Dastidar. CPI(M) state secretary Arun Mehra and other leaders accompanied the team.

In some cases, relief was provided in the form of building materials, cycle rickshaws, sewing machines, handcarts, etc. In one case in Ahmedabad, relief was distributed among the Dalits who were affected by the carnage.

In all such cases of relief distribution, huge numbers of affected persons gathered and appreciated the act.

On the other hand, while the CPI(M) Central Committee has built a model village at Malya with the money it collected, the organisation of state government employees in West Bengal also adopted village Tva in district Surendranagar and rebuilt most of the houses there at a cost of Rs 11.5 lakh. Here, 26 houses were destroyed in the January 2001 earthquake.

The village held a ceremony on August 13 morning, in presence of the five-member AISGEF delegation as well as Arun Mehta, Subodh Mehta and other leaders of the CPI(M) in Gujarat.

S Ray Chaudhury, general secretary of the state level coordination committee of West Bengal government employees’ associations and unions, laid a commemoration stone in the village. The AISGEF and CPI(M) leaders addressed a good gathering of the villagers on the occasion.

All this has created much enthusiasm in the village, that was reflected in the reception accorded to the delegation by the villagers, with traditional ceremonial music and dance.

In the meantime, the AISGEF team came to know from the concerned engineer that the construction work in Malya, the model village adopted by the CPI(M), would be completed in a month or two.