MUZAFFARGARH: The recent floods have deprived a number of people of home and hearth.

Hajra Bibi is one of the hapless residents of Doaba Town who had her dream of having a ‘decent living’ dashed to the ground after raging waters hit her shelter. She was living with her son Bilal in a single-room shelter and wanted to add another room to it after Eidul Azha.

The poor woman says she had bought a small date orchard to eke out a living by selling leaves but her home and the orchard were swept away by the flood. She says delay in Doaba dyke breach allowed water to accumulate around it and strong tides flattened her home.

She says she learnt about the possibility of flooding when announcements were made in mosque to vacate the area. She says her son Bilal had told her that the town was safe and officials were busy breaching the dyke.

All she could save was a ‘charpoi’ and a bundle or two of date leaves, she says. She recalls that the 2010 flood affected her home but the room survived and some donors helped her and her son rehabilitate. She says she was hoping to earn Rs100,000 a year through a ‘contract’ but her dream had not been materialised.

Hajra Bibi, whose husband Ghulam Hussain died 12 years ago in a bus accident, is now encamped in a tent where she hopes to earn a living by doing chores. She alleges that a patwari is asking for bribe to help her son get the compensation the government has announced for the flood-tossed.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014