First a tiger, then a storm. Life in the Sundarbans of West Bengal was not easy already. Lack of basic facilities. The danger of the tiger attack on Kadam Kadam. And now the storm of Amfan on him made a life here more difficult. The 'tiger widows' of Sundarbans are forced to live a struggling life in such an environment. The woman whose husband was killed by the tiger.
One such woman is Manjula Sardar. 45-year-old Manjula was destined to eat something for the first time after two days. That too a handful of puffed rice and jaggery. The desperation of losing everything is visible on the face. Just looking at the pond that has been filled with salty water after the storm. The Amfan storm that hit West Bengal a week ago not only killed all the fish in Manjula's pond but also snatched the only livelihood from it.
No first time a mountain of troubles has broken on Manjula. Seven years ago in 2013, the tiger killed her husband in the Gosaba area. Henceforth, fishes in the pond were the only means of earning. Nearby farms have also been ruined by the storm. Manjula and women like that are commonly called 'tiger widows'.
Even before the storm changed life
Manjula told that earlier too the storm had changed her life. When the farms were destroyed due to Cyclone Aila, the husband was forced to start fishing. Meanwhile, the tiger attacked and killed them. After much struggle, a pond was allowed to be used for fisheries with the help of an NGO. Now Amfan also carried the storm.
Many stories like Manjula
More than 100 'tiger widows' of the Satjalia block of the Gosaba area lost their husbands to tigers in the last 15 years and the story is more or less the same. According to official figures, at least 52 people have died in tiger attacks between 2010 and 2017 in the Sundarbans region. Sheeba Sardar (40) is another tiger widow from Satjalia. He fears hunger more than a cyclone or human-tiger conflict. She used to do poultry farming. 100 chickens and 80 chickens were washed away in the storm. She says that whenever a disaster occurs in the Sunderbans, we have to start afresh.
Sulata's husband was killed by a tiger in front of his eyes
Agricultural laborer Sulata says that after the Aila cyclone things had started to return to the track that the storm of Amfan ended everything. He said, 'Now we have to start everything afresh. There is no cultivable land left and I have no means to raise a family. ' In 2011, her husband was killed by a tiger in front of her eyes. She says that many women who lost their husbands in tiger, crocodile and snake attacks moved to the city and found work there. When contacted, West Bengal Sundarban Affairs Minister Manturam Pakhira said that the government would look into the case of Sundarbans widows.
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