On 21 April, a storm of 180 to 250 km per hour devastated north-eastern Bihar and took the lives of 41 people in Purnea district alone. The death toll was greatest in Dagrua block at 19. 7 were killed in K. Nagar, 9 in Purnea Sadar, 2 in Banmankhi, and 1 each in Dhamdaha, Badhara Kothi, Shrinagar, and Vayasi. A team of CPI (ML) and Kisan Mahasabha leaders visited the affected blocks, consoled the families of the dead, and took stock of the governmental relief works. Comrades Rajaram Singh, Visheshvar Prasad Yadav, Shivsagar Sharma, Md. Islamuddin, Avinash Kumar, Pankaj Kumar Singh and others were part of the team.
The team found that 90% of tin and mud houses, and 98% of crops were destroyed. People were forced to live and sleep in the open and there was little to eat. However, the government has done nothing other than handing a cheque of 4 lakhs each to the kin of the dead. No relief has been distributed and the affected have been left to starve. Thousands of poor gheraoed Dhamdaha, K. Nagar, Purnea Sadar, and other blocks under the banner of CPI (ML) and the Kisan Mahasabha and submitted memorandums to the BDOs demanding -immediate relief camps in the villages with ration and tarpaulin distribution, cash for vessels, continuation of relief till the next crop, declaring the zone as special disaster zone, giving housing land parchas to all the poor, making arrangements for pucca quake/storm resistant housing, provisions for toilets, and drinking water, 50,000 per acre compensation for loss of mango, wheat, maize and other crops, waiving of agricultural loans up to 1 lakh to farmers as well as sharecroppers, capital for next crop to farmers an sharecroppers, and putting an end to the demands of bribes and partiality being done by officials while surveying the loss.
The organization conducted a survey of the loss and will conduct further such surveys. Preparations for a big agitation are afoot. On returning from their visit, the leaders pointed out that the government which is giving huge tax reliefs to the corporate houses is completely ignoring the disaster-affected farmers and poor who are in dire need of relief. They promised that the struggle on this issue would be strengthened and continued.
