| Project Name | Relief to Amphan impacted people of South Bengal districts |
| Beneficiaries | Individuals and families residing in Sunderban and Nandigram areas |
| Project Status | Closed in August 2020 |
The country was already reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, on 20th May 2020, South Bengal was hit by the super cyclone Amphan. Within hours, all the South Bengal districts, in particular North and South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, East and West Midnapore, were devastated. The scale of damage to crops, infrastructure and livelihood to hundreds of villages was unprecedented.
Members of the Foundation immediately swung into action. Response from members was quick, and spontaneous. Over the next several weeks, the Foundation would be actively involved in various relief operations, some of which are listed below.
While a lot of members contributed to these projects in various ways, the Foundation would like to thank Manabendra Roy, Arindam Dhar, Rahul Bal, Supratim Biswas and Pradip Adhikari for the specific roles played by them.
A. Supply of Essentials (Food, Clothing) and help with repair of houses – Village Jayanagar, Block Kulatali, Sundarban, South 24 Parganas
Through one of our members, we got to know about this village, located 100 km from Calcutta, where several villagers have been rendered homeless overnight. While they were trying to restore their huts, they needed asbestos sheets for roofing. We contacted a local dealer, and arranged for the payment and delivery. About eight families were the beneficiaries, who were able to repair their homes over the next few days.
The subsequent weekend, a team of four committee members traveled to the village. After talking to the villagers, essential supplies like food grains and vegetable were picked up from local market, and handed over to thirty three families. This included the eight families that were recipient of the roofing sheets earlier. We were also approached by another six families from the neighboring village and told us that they also need roofing sheets. By that time, all local dealers had run out of supplies. On our return, we remained in touch with the dealers, and the required number of asbestos sheets were later arranged once stocks were replenished.
B. Supply of Essentials kits – Village Chandipur, Block Nandigram, Midnapore
This program is currently being executed in partnership with Vivekananda Lokshiksha Mandir, a local organization in East Midnapore. We are working with them through the Block Development Officer of Nandigram.
As per the assessment done by local organizations, essentials kits comprising items such as cooking oil, dal, spices, soyabean and vegetables, were arranged for about 250 families. Four members of the foundation plan to travel to the village to supervise the distribution.
C. Livelihood Restoration project – Pond Water Treatment for Pisciculture, Jyotishpur Village, Durgamandap Panchayet, Sandeshkhali 2 block, Sunderban
A lot of individuals and organizations have been working on Amphan relief activities. Through one of our members, we got in touch with Mr Sudip Mitra of Howrah West Bengal, who has been co-ordinating a lot of relief work done by various organizations across Sunderban. Based on our discussion with him, we eventually picked up this program of restoring a fishing pond in the tribal village of Jyotishpur. We partnered with a local organization named Prosari – Foundation did the funding (mainly arranging for the materials like lime and bleaching powder), while Prosari did the field work and co-ordinated the overall execution, with 217 family of fishers.
We are thankful to Mr Mitra, and Prosari, for getting us connected to this program. Apart from our members, many external (i.e. non-member) donors came forward to contribute towards this project. We are thankful to them as well.
C. Livelihood Restoration project – Jyotishpur Village, Durgamandap Panchayet, Sandeshkhali 2 block, Sunderban
D. Support for Community Kitchens, Sunderban
Several weeks after Amphan, certain areas were still struggling with basic subsistence. Ramakrishna Mission, in association with local volunteers, started working on several community kitchen projects with the goal to cover some 1600 people for about a month. Rahara alumni association, which was working on raising the funds for the project, approached us for support. A monetary contribution of not so large an amount was made by the foundation. As we speak, the community kitchen is being run in at least five different places, actively supported by Rahara alumni volunteers. Our best wishes for the success of this project.