Sanjay Kumar- village Nawthnava, Maharajgunj, UP Sanjay Kumar primarily reports on issues related to caste and education. Sanjay Kumar has been a committed social activist since he was a child. When he was young, he excelled in school and resisted the discrimination that he faced as a lower caste schoolboy. Unfortunately, caste issues affected him beyond the educational system when…

Sanjay Kumar

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As we have reported in the past, large swathes of land in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are facing unseasonal floods. Lakhs of people have lost their crops, house, dry ration and all their belongings.

Our Community Correspondent (CC) Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal reports from the Khajuria village in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district where the flood water has receded but the lives of the villagers is yet to go back to normal.

"I am a daily wage labourer and earn just about enough to feed my family. I don't have the financial capacity to rebuild my house. During the floods, we could not eat for 12-14 hours due to stress. All wheat and rice we had stored got washed away," said Rajesh, a local villager from Khajuria.

In another case of neglect from the administration, Rajkumar says that he needed money to repair his house that has developed cracks due to the flood water and can fall on him anytime. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promised that all flood affected villages will receive Rs. 95,000 to build a new house or repair their existing structure. However, when Rajkumar went to claim the amount, the local revenue officer asked him to wait until the house falls. Only then can the procedure to release compensation be initiated. Now, Rajkumar lives in fear not knowing when the structure would come crumbling down.

"We had a small pond where we would rear fish to be sold in the market. But the fish got washed away in the floods. All our dry ration of rice, wheat and coal got washed away. Yet we haven't received any help from the government," said Aarti, a local housewife while speaking to our CC.

Some other locals report that a few officials from the government visited their village. However, they saw the water level and did not venture in where the villagers were stranded. They took some pictures but never returned with any news on any relief.