Kavita Desai, project director of the urban community development programme of the municipal corporation, said, “We are following the BPL list from 2000.”
As soon as the doors of the goods wagon slid shut at the railway yard in Vadodara, a group of women tiptoed in, armed with brooms, sieves and cloth bags. They gently slipped under the wheels of the train, each staking claim to a spot.
Then, they carefully started scooping up and sieving the grain that had spilt over and got mixed with the cement, dust and stains of crude oil on the tracks. A couple of hours later, they silently signalled to each another and moved out, evading the security guards on duty.
For these tribal women of Dahod, who do not figure on the official Below Poverty Line (BPL) map of Vadodara despite settling here 10 years ago, this is the only way to keep their families from starving. Even if that means scavenging for dirty grain on the railway tracks.
“These grains help us survive for a few weeks or even a month. We fear being caught for trespass and being harassed. We come here only to collect some grains that are of no use to anyone,” says Surti Pagra Bhil, a widow with two sons and a daughter, who was able to gather more grain in a plastic bag she had picked up on the way.
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