Bangalee attack on Santal village sparks water crisis
A dearth of water has crippled life at Chirakutipara in Parbatipur upazila since Saturday when Bangalee land grabbers rampaged through the Santal village, looting and burning their houses and taking away or destroying the tube-wells that supplied water to its over 300 inhabitants.
The upazila administration has installed six tube-wells so that they could go about their daily business for the time being, but two of them are failing to pump out water, deepening the crisis.
"We are without drinking water, cannot wash our clothes and take shower," said Dipali Tudu, an honours student at Carmichael College in Rangpur, yesterday when this correspondent visited the village, where 55 Santal families live.
She said most of her books were burnt.
The indigenous community leaders say Bangalees from the neighbouring villages have been trying to grab 18 acres of their cultivable land for decades now.
On Saturday, one Jahurul Islam went to the farmland to install an irrigation pump, which the Santal men protested immediately, seeing it as a primary act of the grabbing process.
A quarrel soon turned into a clash between over a dozen Bangalees and the Santal men, leading to the death of Jahurul's son, who was struck by an arrow that a Santal man shot.
The clash halted for sometime when police rounded up 19 Santal men, but soon after the law enforcers left, several hundred Bangalees launched an onslaught on Chirakutipara.
They looted over a dozen houses, burnt seven, torn their land documents into pieces, and took away their cattle and a few dozen tube-wells, said victims. Fearing arrests, the Santal men are still in hiding.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Adivasi Parishad yesterday held a human chain in front of Dinajpur Press Club, demanding immediate arrest of the attackers.
Speaking on the occasion, JAP leaders including its president Rabindranath Soren also demanded immediate release of Antanus Tudu, who is supposed to sit for his SSC exams early next month.
Mahmudul Alam, officer-in-charge of Parbatipur, said no case was filed yet over the looting and the arson attack.
Rahenul Islam, the upazila nirbahi officer, said the administration distributed 50kg of rice and some kitchen utensils to each of the 55 families.
"Besides, corrugated tin sheets will be distributed very soon," he told The Daily Star.
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