Madhya Pradesh tribals die to earn a living

NK SINGH

Driven by acute poverty, the Gauds, an aboriginal tribe living in the villages around the two military-proof ranges at Itarsi and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, have taken to an unusual and dangerous occupation. They sneak into the artillery-proof range, entry into which is strictly prohibited, and pick up shells of the fused bombs which are exploded there.

The shells contain brass, copper, aluminium and iron, which are processed separated and sold to unscrupulous traders at a fraction of the original value of the metal. The rich traders, who are alleged to wield political influence in the state, sell the stolen metal at an exorbitant profit through their well-organised network.

The half-clad, illiterate people, including many adolescents and even women, wait behind nearby bushes and trees as the heavy mortars roar. Most of them race towards the fused shells even before the smoke caused by the firing clears. Experience gained through years in the trade has developed in them a crude sense of ballistics with which they judge the likely spot of explosion.

But calculations go wrong at times and, often, the unwary shell-gatherers are killed by a stray missile or an unexploded bomb. Sometimes, the second round of firing starts while they are in the range collecting the shells and escaping to the safety of trees becomes impossible.

The unexploded bombs, according to an employee of the proof range, are fused in a very crude manner to bring out the metal. 

The bombs are simply put in a bonfire. "And down at the proof range," he winced, "we take so many precautions while doing the same thing." Heavy bombs strike deep into the earth and have to be dug out with spades by the shell-gatherers.

According to unofficial sources, more than 80 persons have been killed while picking these shells during the last nine years that the Central Proof Range at Itarsi has been in existence. However, police sources maintain that, on average, only three to four such deaths occur every year. But unofficial sources are quick to point out that the "trade" is illegal, the deceased are cremated quietly by their frightened colleagues and nobody talks about their sudden disappearance.

Indeed, Chindapani village (population 675) in the Kesala tribal development block near Itarsi (most of the Gauds pursuing this bizarre trade live in this block spread over the Bhopal-Nagpur highway overlooking the hills of Vidhyachal) has come to be known as the "village of widows." At one time, most of the males in the village had been killed while collecting bombs. For a long time, the women carried on the business of their dead husbands, sons and brothers.

The situation is not much different at the Khamaria long-proof range near Jabalpur except that, the establishment here being 20 years old, the number of casualties is much higher. In one of the most ghastly incidents in recent times, seven persons were killed on March 23 this year when a bomb exploded near them. 

Hardly a single family in these villages has been left untouched by this calamity. The victims often die without receiving medical attention or being treated by private practitioners who have scant facilities for the major surgery required by the victims. 

Normally, they avoid government hospitals, although the treatment is free, for fear of the police. "The tribals came to us only when the quacks are unable to manage," said a surgeon of the Itarsi government hospital. 

The villages are full of cripples who have lost one or the other part of their body while collecting bombs in the range. In Ghogharapura village, situated on the outskirts of the Itarsi-proof range, one can see crutches in almost every house.

The trade has become so much a part of life in the area that death is considered nothing more than an occupational hazard. 

A tea stall owner at Kesala, the sleepy village on the Bhopal Nagpur highway, did not even lift his head when asked about a death which occurred last week in a neighbouring village. Continuing to rub lime on a piece of paan, he said, "Bhangilal of Taku village was killed last week. Yes, I knew him... quite a young chap, around 35." 

He was all contempt for "these greedy people". "It is only the lure for easy money that drives them to the range. They would not do honest, hard labour although the bastards get killed almost every week," he swore handing us his glass of strong, sweet brew. "Where is the work," quipped a customer sprawled on a chair.

Interestingly, a visit to the government hospital at Itarsi revealed that the number of injuries caused by "metallic explosions" increases in the months when the agricultural operations are lean and people don't get work in the fields. "On average," said the civil surgeon, "we receive one to two such cases every month, but the figure increases every summer."

The area around both the Jabalpur and Itarsi ranges is hilly and the land is unfertile. To set up the range, long tracts of the Jabalpur range are 30 km. long and 8 km. wide, while the Itarsi one is spread over an area of 18 km. by 6 km. were cleared, destroying the jungles and depriving the farmers of their cultivable or grazing lands. Thousands of poor tribals were uprooted as two dozen villages in Itarsi and about as many in Jabalpur were displaced to make place for the range.

Sources in the Union defence ministry, which runs these ranges, point out that although they had paid the Madhya Pradesh government compensation not only to rehabilitate the displaced persons but also for their planned development in future, "the money was never spent on the suggested development project".

The going rates for the scrap at the range are; brass Rs. 10 to 12 per kg; copper Rs. 15 to 18 per kg: aluminium Rs. 5 to 7 per eg: an iron one rupee per kg. This is, however only a fraction of the prices the metal fetch in the market.

The average income of shell- collectors varies from person to person, depending upon their ability to run fast. In the Jabalpúr range, someone with a good pair of legs can earn as much as Rs. 50 per day. However, at Itarsi the average income is between Rs. 10 and Rs. 25.

"The shell collectors are criminals," said Lt. Col. G. K. Bail, commandant of the Itarsi proof range. "But the real culprits are the traders and their political bosses." A millionaire businessman of Hoshangabad, the district headquarters, was arrested recently for the "possession of goods stolen from the Itarsi range" when a truckload of metal was intercepted and seized by the police.

This was, however, an exceptional case. The real operators are rarely caught. Most of the 32 persons arrested last year by the Kerala police on the charge of entering the prohibited area and stealing government property were small seven of them were boys aged between 10 and 12 years and their cases had to be referred to the juvenile court.

The children who used to go to the jungle to gather mahua and other wild fruits now go to the proof range to collect golagattu, the term coined by the Gauds for bombshells. At Jabalpur, clandestine tea shops have sprung up on the range itself to enable the 500 to 600 shell collectors to have a quick bite. These shops also accept brass and other metals instead of money. At the Itarsi range, the number of bomb - collectors has swelled to about 250.

"You would not believe it till you see it yourself," said Col. Bail. "When the testing starts, all of us (military men) take refuge inside the steel and concrete safety boxes. It is so dangerous. But these people, even boys of ten and women, wait behind nearby bushes and trees in the area where the missile would fall. As soon a shell explodes, they start Throwing hankies, towels and other articles on it to claim possession."

The Madhya Pradesh government has not done anything at all these years to avert such tragedies. The Kerala police station covers 113 villages. But the strength of the staff is just seven. The police station often wears a desolate look.

On July 28, four persons, including two women, were killed and eight seriously injured when one of them picked up a live hand grenade in the Jodhpur proof range, Rajasthan: At any cantonment, military training centre or ordnance factory where defence equipment is tested, such incidents are not unusual. As Col. Bail puts it: "It is a problem faced by the military all over the country."

Times of India 

October 1, 1978