Malda Training Diary - Administrative Training Institute

Page 170 of 170
they proudly told me that not a single farmer in Porsha owned less than 100 acres of
cultivable land. Not a single mud house was without tin roofing, and there was a massive 3storey
mosque to boot. When I asked them why they did not circumvent this transport
problem by going to Rajshahi through Malda (a regular bus service was running between
Malda and Nawabganj, beyond which local buses were available), they gravely explained that
it was because of the 6 mile stretch between Nitpur (Porsha) and Kendpur (in Malda) which
would have to be covered on foot! The look on Rahman’s face (he had come with me on this
visit to synchronise the allocation of relief materials between Sibganj and Porsha) was
eloquent beyond words, but it had no effect. I offered to remove this problem by taking the
Awami League Chairman, Abdul Hasnat Chowdhury, in my jeep to Malda, from where he
could proceed to Rajshahi. There was no response, beyond pressing innumerable sweets,
poached eggs and thick milky tea on us. I found them more eager to feed us and show us
around than to organise themselves so as to use most profitably and in the least possible time
whatever relief material they got. At first, they were not even sending any representative to
see to it that the truckloads of material we sent were unloaded forthwith, so that a larger
number of trips could be made and they could get more material within less time. Where our
trucks could have made five trips daily, they were not making more than two! They pleaded
lack of manpower; and yet 30000 evacuees had returned to Porsha and were waiting for
shelter materials! It was left to an outsider, Bhutu Babu, to suggest that the Awami League
unit should call the headmen of all the Santhals (who composed 90 per cent, of the evacuees)
and ask them to organise teams for lifting the material. Finally, an officer was sent from
Porsha who camped at the riverside and began distributing the materials on the spot.
The attitude of the people we were trying to help was another curious amalgam of
gratitude, distrust and apathy. Wherever I went, however devastated the area might me,
sweets of magnum sizes would appear from nowhere and I would be forced to polish them
off on pain of wounding feelings (it is a measure of the pressure of the work that despite these
massive doses of sugar and starch I actually lost 5 kg. between January and April!).
Whenever I went to Rajshahi I was given VIP treatment and, much to my embarrassment,
referred to as “A.D.C. Malda “ despite all my efforts to set them right as to my designation.
Of course, they have no such post as Assistant Magistrate & Collector, hence my designation
never registered in their minds. Resigning myself to it, I used to strut around in borrowed
plumes feeling very self-important and thankful for this confusion because it helped me
immensely in getting things done fast in Bangladesh. I will never forget the generous
hospitality offered to me and other officers from Malda when we visited Dacca on 17
March—just as the meeting addressed jointly by Mrs. Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
was to start—by the District Judge of Dacca Sri Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, affectionately
known as “judge-saheb” in Malda. The pranhara sandesh and the sweet curd (mishti doi) of
the famous confectioners Maranchand-Kalachand, which he loaded us with were nothing but
nectareous ambrosia (we were rather lucky of course as they had supplied the very same day
the Pranhara Sandesh which had been served to Mrs. Gandhi!).
But there was the other side of the coin too. Such as, ferrymen refusing to work at
night to ferry across our trucks, or that incident at the Nagarbari Ghat of Padma River, en
route Dacca. Reaching there around 6.30 A.M., 17 March, we found a huge queue of reliefcarrying
trucks and private cars which had been lining up since last evening. It seems that
there had been a big quarrel over giving priority to Indian trucks carrying relief in boarding
the ferry-steamer, resulting in the stopping of the ferry service. There had originally been
about eight such steamers plying between Nagarbari and Aricha ghats, connecting Dacca and
Pabna districts, but we had successfully bombed and destroyed all but two of them, so that
there was the inevitable long delay in services. Luckily for us, we managed to squeeze
ourselves on to the very first ferry-steamer (each can carry about 6 large trucks and 8 cars)