5 months ago
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Anita Das, present 47, was lured from her location successful West Bengal’s Nadia territory successful her 20s with the committedness of a job. Like galore different women, she was trafficked to the reddish airy country of northbound Kolkata’s Sonagachi successful the aforesaid apparel that she near location in, nary recognition documents oregon wealth successful hand.
“I near location implicit 15 years backmost and ne'er returned. I enactment here, I person birthed and raised children here. Suddenly, I americium being asked astir my parents, wherever they were and wherever I was successful 2002. I americium being asked for recognition documents by a nine that did not see maine worthy of designation oregon respect,” Ms. Das said, referring to the ongoing peculiar intensive revision (SIR) of West Bengal’s electoral rolls.
Ms. Das described SIR arsenic a “crisis equivalent to the COVID pandemic”.
“We are not against SIR. But astir of america are uneducated and don’t cognize what to constitute successful the form, however to capable it, oregon however to hint ourselves oregon our parents from the 2002 list. The Booth Level Officer (BLO) is filling it connected our behalf but we don’t cognize what helium is writing. Some of america bash not adjacent cognize wherever we were born, fto unsocial person commencement certificates oregon different specified documents. We person been disowned by our families,” she said.
On November 21, 3 payment organisations from Sonagachi, 1 of Asia’s largest reddish airy areas, wrote to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal Manoj Kumar Agarwal seeking peculiar considerations and assistance during SIR for the enactment idiosyncratic community.
Soon after, Mr. Agarwal announced peculiar camps for enactment workers and their families and assured them that helium would effort to sojourn the SIR campy and personally guarantee that Sonagachi’s astir 15,000-strong assemblage of enactment workers bash not look difficulties during the exercise.
Shivani Giri, a enactment idiosyncratic and the caput of Society for Human Development and Social Action, said assistance from the CEO’s bureau is of utmost importance.
“We cannot hazard being considered illegitimate and invalid by our country’s apical officials aft years of being treated arsenic untouchable by society,” she said.
“In 2007, we had written to past Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal Debasish Sen to assistance america get authorities IDs and beryllium recognised arsenic voters. He acknowledged the Usha Cooperative passbook that astir enactment workers present have, and helped hundreds of america get elector ID cards,” said Tutul Singh, a erstwhile enactment idiosyncratic and caput of the Usha Multipurpose Cooperative Society (UMCS).
This organisation, registered arsenic a cooperative nine successful 1995, helps enactment workers and their families physique monetary reserves, instrumentality loans, etc successful a mounting wherever they would often beryllium robbed, defrauded, oregon extorted successful the look of violence.
Mr. Sen said that astatine that time, determination was immoderate disorder astir the issuance of EPIC cards to enactment workers, and that a petition had been enactment up by payment organisation Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee and UMCS for the elector registration of Sonagachi’s enactment workers and their ID photos being discreetly photographed successful a abstracted registration booth.
Kohinoor Begum, 53, who recalled coming to Sonagachi connected February 17, 1994 from her location successful Murshidabad’s Behrampore, asked agitatedly if enactment workers should enactment oregon walk their clip “running astir to marque consciousness of the form”.
‘No aforesaid rules’
Satabdi Saha, 48, girl of a enactment idiosyncratic and caput of Amra Padatik, a payment body, pointed retired that patrilineal recognition is intolerable for immoderate kid calved successful the reddish airy area.
She said that erstwhile enactment workers person ever been ‘othered’ from nine and discriminated against, the rules that use to the remainder of nine should not beryllium implemented identically connected them.
