नीरज घेवान पहुंचे घाटकोपर. वहां जहां सूखे से त्रस्त किसान और उनके परिवार के लोग शरणार्थी की सी ज़िन्दगी गुज़ार रहे हैं. अपने ही प्रदेश में.

नीरज घेवान पहुंचे घाटकोपर. वहां जहां नांदेड़ और लातूर और आस पास की जगहों के सूखाग्रस्त इलाकों से किसान मजबूर होकर आकर रह रहे हैं. नीरज को किसी फेसबुक पोस्ट से इन किसानों और उनके परिवार के वहां आकर रहने वालों के बारे में मालूम चला.  वो अपने दोस्त रणदीप कुमार झा के साथ वहां पहुंचे. उन्होंने जो देखा वो फेसबुक पे लिख सुनाया. काफी कुछ ऐसा है जो दुखदायी है. जहां इन शरणार्थियों का बसेरा है, वहां कुछ पॉलिटिकल पार्टीज़ का भी बसेरा है. एक एनजीओ के रूप में. लोगों का कहना था कि जो भी सामान देना है, हमें ही दो. उनके हाथों उन्हें कुछ भी नहीं मिलेगा. लोगों को जितना ही गरमी से खतरा है, उतना ही उनके छोटे बच्चों को वहां घूमते सुअरों से. पढ़ें नीरज का पोस्ट: "These pictures might seem like they are from Latur or Beed or any of the drought affected areas. But, this is in Bombay. Yes, in your neighborhood. When I read the post shared by Anurag Kashyap (original post by Rahul Narvekar) on migrant farmers in Ghatkopar, I wanted to go there and see for myself. My friend, Randeep Kumar Jha and I went there to witness a harrowing view of migration and what this water crisis is doing to people. Most of them are from Nanded and Latur. There were mostly women when we were there. Men had gone out to find labor work. They do this every year: migrate from their villages for six months here, as there is no water, no food or no great prospect to earn a living. They live for six months without a roof in the hot sun here. The place is dirty and has pigs and other animals rummaging. One man I met said he didn’t need anything but all he needs is a place to stay. He has been coming here to stay for the past 10 years. He said he couldn’t live like this. There is enough food to last for 2-3 days but the heat is unbearable. He points me to a pig nearby and says “I am scared that pig will harm my baby in the night. We have no roof or walls.” We spoke to the women about what they want and what made them come here. It was harrowing to hear them talk about basic needs. How their fields are all dead, their cattle are dead and so is their spirit. As we moved past them, we saw a 1-2 year-old kid crying. We looked around but we couldn’t find anyone. Randeep picked him up and put him back on the kid’s gunny bag rug/bed/house. He stopped crying. His father was out to find work. Mother had gone to get water and she had to leave him there in the hot son. His mother made him sleep on this rug under a small tarpaulin flag. He got up and walked past it not realizing his feet were burning because of the hot ground. That's why he was crying. We went to a nearby grocery store. We bought rice, daal, oil packets, soaps, and biscuits. We had two bags full. An NGO shack was there at the camp to distribute supplies from donors (with posters showing political affiliation to BJP. They were at least 4 political hoardings). They said there are enough supplies for them. On the other side, women kept screaming at us that we should give the supplies directly to them and not via this NGO shack. Confused, whom to trust, we started distributing ourselves. It became chaotic. We got mobbed. In a matter of 5 minutes we were close to finishing our supplies. We turned around to see people on the other side yelling at us for not getting enough. Their anger was understandable. No amount was enough. Maybe our going did nothing to them. It would have probably helped with 2-3 days of basic food supplies to about 20 families. But there are so many out there. What else can be done? I genuinely don’t know the answer. I came back with lot of questions. Were they forcing us to give them the supplies directly in order to stock for future? Maybe the NGO was regulating the supplies and evenly distributing which they did not like. The NGO shack was distributing supplies that were given by donors. Why did the NGO have political banners? All the supplies would appear as though the person, whose banners were put up, was giving them out and all donors are his people. Were we wrong in distributing the supplies directly? At a point, it did feel futile, when I saw the anger of those who didn’t get. When we ran out of supplies, they even fought to have those empty bags. If they do this every year why can’t the BMC arrange makeshift tent around the place? Something like a tarpaulin shamiaana (Like Delhi’s Rain Basera) to protect them from the hot sun? We thought of doing this but realized it will be a long process to convince BMC. They live like this every year. Why can’t the government give them better conditions to live? Drought is national calamity. Just these daily supplies, which by the way, are given by the donors, aren’t enough. They need a roof on their heads to protect from the scorching sun; some make shift rooms, proper sanitation, water, food, and better employment opportunities that they can avail. Applauding countries welcoming Syrian refugees is great but these right here, are our own people, asking us for shelter and a living." साथ ही वहां का एक वीडियो भी है. लोग अपनी तकलीफ़ें बता रहे हैं. वहां एनजीओ वालों के अजीबोगरीब रवैय्ये से भी वो काफ़ी परेशान दिख रहे हैं. [facebook_embedded_post href="https://www.facebook.com/ghaywan/videos/vb.806215460/10156755846835461/"]