The struggles of Mr. Krishna Das, as told to the Right to Food and Work Coordinator, North Bengal-
Born at Lalmati Tun Bagan, near Kamakhya, Assam, Mr. Krishna Das was a wholesale grocery shop worker for almost 12 years of his life, since the age of 10 when he moved to Chalsa in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. Thereafter, he worked in various shops in Alipurduar and eventually, became a hawker in Siligiri, surviving with just Rs. 200-300 per day. This income being insufficient to support a family, Krishna moved to Jaipur, Rajasthan post-marriage in 2014 with dreams of a better life. He started working at a construction site and his wife and 10-yr old step-daughter sold vegetables.
In hopes of better earning and living opportunities in Tamil Nadu, Krishna with his family reached Chennai Central Railway Station the same year, where they roamed around for two days until a “thekedar” (contractor) named Mukesh Kumar promised them work in Erode in return of free food and a pay of Rs 6000 per head per month, i.e., a total of Rs 18000 per month for Krishna, Manju Bibi and their daughter. Hopeful at this prospect, Mr. Krishna and his family reached Erode, where they worked without any payment in an egg farm for three months. Eventually they were sent to a water plant in an unknown place. Each time their enquiry about the place or their wages were met by threats from Kumar, who thereafter sent them to a brick kiln with promises of more money and food. Krishna’s family was left with no other choice but to follow Kumar, where they remained unpaid for another three months’ work.
When his wife became pregnant, Krishna was desperately seeking money to take her to the doctor as she was in pain, only to receive death threats from Kumar each time. Krishna and his family spent their days in intense fear. Kumar’s wife, Anita, unsuccessfully attempted to extort money from Manju Bibi by threatening to hurt her womb, in lieu of the food she was feeding them, which was supposed to be free according to Kumar’s promise. As per Krishna’s statement, Anita, unable to tolerate seeing them resting on days of no work, even made them clean the toilet of her child. One evening, under the influence of alcohol, Kumar along with another person physically assaulted Krishna and threatened to sell Krishna’s daughter to a dance bar in Bihar.
After managing to convince Kumar to allow them to visit the hospital, Krishna and Manju Bibi were able to escape from his bondage. Kumar and his wife, however, had kept his three children (Ms. Selvi Solina, Mr. Kuttash and Ms. Pooja) with them. Realizing the need for police intervention to rescue their children, Krishna and his wife went back to work at one of the factories in erode where they had worked before, as arranged by Mr. Thapa, from Assam. They returned to Jaipur with the money earned from the week-long work at the factory and Krishna resumed work under Milan builder, where he was working in the past. He, then, narrated his entire experience of Erode and lodged a complaint to the police in Jaipur, who intervened and rescued his children from Kumar and his wife. They also learned that, while in bondage, Kumar and his wife repeatedly tortured their children by burning them with cigarette and hot metal.
Upon learning the compensation offered by the State government as relief for bondage, Krishna and his family moved back to Baneswar in Coochbehar, West Bengal to his mother-in-law’s house and started working in an agricultural field for a few days. They opened their respective bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana in Central Bank of India. It was during this time, that Krishna was given financial assistance by Anuradha Talwar, when he was referred to Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity. The organisation tried to get him his benefits as a released bonded labour even though they do not work directly in Coochbehar. So far he has received a total of Rs 60,000 as State Government relief for himself, his wife and elder daughter, all whom were bonded. However, monetary arguments with his father-in-law forced Krishna and his family to move to Bongaigaon, Assam, where he worked in a shop and Manju Bibi swept the coaches of Kanchan Kanya Express. A teary eyed Krishna recalls that they were blessed with a boy, Bikram, while in Assam, who unfortunately succumbed to pneumonia when he was just 1 month 25 days old.
When the tension regarding the implementation of NRC was deepening in Assam, Krishna and his family, one again, returned to West Bengal at Ward no. 35, Siliguri in February. Ever since, Krishna has been working as a rickshaw puller and Manju along with Kuttash as train compartment sweepers to earn their living, until the onset of the imposed lockdown to counter the spread of Covid-19.
The lockdown has had severe repercussions on the lives of Krishna and his family, with even the last hope of any income coming to a halt now. Within a week’s time, the last bit of ration, money and gas was exhausted. Ms. Anuradha Talwar along with the coordinator of RTFW North Bengal unit has been assisting him and his family. Their continued efforts resulted in sponsoring of 20kg rice, 2 kg potato, 1ltr soya oil, 500ml mustard oil, 2 kg pulses, 1 pkt of salt, some spices and Rs 200 for gas to Krishna by Human Life Development & Research Centre (HLDRC) on 31st March, 2020.
On 8th April, Krishna suffered the demise of his 18 days old daughter due to severe diarrhea, after being denied treatment at the Railway Hospital, who cited that the hospital was only meant for railway personals and their families. They even took the baby to the North Bengal Medical College but unfortunately she passed away on the way to the hospital.
Mr Krishna Das and his family in their rented accommodation at Siliguri, West Bengal
Mr. Krishna and his wife with intense grief expressed that they couldn’t feed their daughter properly to save her life, due to lack of money. The RTFW coordinator has assisted them with a sum of Rs. 500 on 10th April to refill the gas and perform the last rites of the child. On 12th April, 2020, continued efforts of the RTFW coordinator ensured a relief package of 3 kg rice, 250 grams of pulses, 500 grams of potato and a little amount of edible oil to Mrs. Manju Bibi for the entire lockdown period.
The inhuman torture experienced by Mr. Krishna and his family, especially with the demise of two children, have left them completely shattered with no ray of hope ahead. They (Krishna, Manju Bibi and daughter Selvi Solina) have given statements in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, which have been published in the Print Media. Even after three years of continued efforts by Krishna and Ms. Anuradha Talwar, the Central Government relief package of Rs 5 lakhs for bonded labour is still pending with just periodic and repeated exchange of paperwork between the State and the Centre.
Krishna and his family are repeatedly distressed with the delay of compensation amount as this is their last chance at looking towards a better time in their lives, buy milk to feed their 4 year old daughter, acquire a gas connection, have a home and educate his daughters so that they can have a better future, which Krishna and his wife never had a chance at.
-Written by Ms. Debosmita Ghosh, a vernacular architect and researcher, she is currently working on housing rights of tribal communities and Mr. Pawan Baxla, social worker and Right to Food activist as well as North Bengal coordinator, he has stood beside the family ever since they reached Siliguri
