Awaiting compensation even after a year

tankara (rajkot dist): villagers of rampar, a small village in tankara taluka, have set a new deadline for the reconstruction of the village temple. they have in fact to reconstruct their lives too one year after the quake. "the reconstruction of the temple can wait. house first, temple later (pehla ghar, pachhi mandir), was what most felt. "we have to start life afresh with whatever we are left with," said 65-year-old chandubha ahmedsinh.inadequate as it was to meet the cost of constructing a house, only a small number of people have received the first instalment of rs 36,000. "the government or the district administration has not given us any money to rebuild our temples, and hence they are lying the way they were left by mother earth on that cool january 26 morning of last year. we have only managed to give it a temporary, basic support so that it does not collapse," said chandubhai rabari. even a year after the quake nearly 60 per cent of the people continue to live in tents. houses for them have not been rebuilt, despite claims by the state government. the ground reality in badly-affected maliya, morbi and wankaner is still appalling. ramesh jobanputra of maliya says the first instalment of rs 36,000 was too little. not even enough to engage a mason and labourers. then there is the high cost of water used in construction. "a substantial second instalment is what we desperately require," he said. "the authorities assurances would take us nowhere," says 80-year-old vijiben of bagthala village, who has had to run from pillar to post seeking housing aid. vijiben has turned to her relatives for money from which she could build her house was totally damaged. her son and daughter-in-law were killed in the collapse, and she now left with the responsibility of her eight-year-old grand-daughter ruchi. another family of badthala, ashwin vishwanath and his three brothers, have to live in a tent by turns awaiting their houses to be reconstructed. says ashwin, "sarkar paise kadi apshe. (when will the government compensate us)." the three brothers have now decided to rebuild their houses on their own. to make matters worse, they say the earth has not stop trembling even now. and then, there are prediction of more tremors. the most disturbing aspect of rehabilitation has been the fact that many voluntary organisations have walked away from the rehab job after being frustrated by bureaucratic procedures.