Mumbai: Helpless Virar tribals protest in waist-high floodwater

The tribals protesting in the floods in Virar. Pics/Hanif Patel

More than six-dozen huts belonging to Katkari tribal families near the coastal Arnala area of Virar West have been submerged due to incessant rain, causing severe flooding. An activist, who approached the disaster management and the local gram panchayat for assistance, stated that no measures were taken to prevent flooding in the low-lying area.

As their makeshift tents and belongings were destroyed by the rainwater, the impoverished families have been unable to cook at home and have been surviving on biscuits for the past three days, according to the activist.

The alleged inaction of the government machinery compelled the tribals to stage a waist-high water protest against the revenue officials in Virar on Thursday.

A hut submerged in floodwaters

Around 2,500 tribals reside in the Adivasi Pada area, where they have set up approximately 600 makeshift tents on collector land along the coastal Arnala area. The authorities had issued a red alert until July 22.

Sheru Wagh, an activist and the Vasai taluka secretary of the Marxist-Leninist Party of India (Red Flag) shared that he had approached all relevant government officials with a request to prevent flooding in the Adivasi Pada area during the monsoon. However, his plea was ignored.

"I met the tahsildar, SDM, officials from disaster management at Palghar collector's office, and gram sevak with a request letter. The Adivasi Pada area, where more than 2,500 tribal families of the Katkari community reside, faces havoc due to rainwater accumulation. I had urged the authorities to establish a proper drainage system to prevent this," Wagh told mid-day.

Activists and tribals protesting in waist-high water

He expressed concern about the dire conditions of the poor tribals, who are facing sleepless nights with their belongings, including utensils, beddings, and their children's books and notepads, all soaked in rainwater. Wagh emphasised that resolving the flooding issues could be achieved by using an earth excavating machine to create a temporary drainage system, but the Gram Sevak claimed they were unable to procure one in Virar.

After the protest, the gram sevak arrived at the scene and promised assistance to the tribals who are living in distress.

When contacted, the Tahsildar of Vasai taluka, Avinash Kosti, informed mid-day that a team of revenue officials had recently visited the Adivasi Pada area.

"The tribals have encroached upon government land to build huts and makeshift tents in the area, which is prone to monsoon effects. We offered them the option to relocate to a safer place, a nearby school, but only two families agreed to move," Kosti stated.

"We have also provided raw ration at the school, but the tribals are unwilling to go there. Some huts are submerged in the rainwater," he added.

Regarding the demand for an earth excavating machine to create a temporary drain, Kosti explained that the muddy area would cause the machine to get stuck, making it unfeasible.

The Gram Sevak of Gram Panchayat, Arnala, Nitin Rane, confirmed that the entire area is waterlogged, making it difficult to bring in machines to construct a drain. Nevertheless, they manually created a route to allow rainwater to recede, which may take some time. He assured that a machine would be brought in the next morning to create a proper drain in the area.