Shamli:
Malakpur relief camp is 12 kilometres away from the town area in Shamli district. Reports claimed that the camp had seen 32 children dying over the past four weeks. This was unofficial information. But to check the condition in this camp, which was one out of the 12 relief shelters at Shamli district, we reached the camp area at 8 in the evening.
The place was dark, with hundreds of tents put up over a two kilometre stretch. There were roughly 5,000 people staying at the camp, including 1200 children. These were people who had fled their homes from Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat districts, post the September riots.
At the camp we met 28-year-old Gulshad Ahmed. He was the local 'go to' guy. Keeping records of all the people who were staying at the camp, and also guiding the media crew with all the queries fielded at him. Gulshad told us, that another two-year-old baby girl had died that evening. When we requested to meet the family, he said that they had gone away with the baby's body to bury at the graveyard of a nearby village.
Gulshad led us to a bonfire, where around 10 people including three children had gathered. The children, we noticed, were dangerously close to the fire, trying to soak in as much warmth as they could. There was a busy and excited chatter as the crowd realised there was a media crew among them.
Gulshad drew our attention to one of the men sitting there, Shehzad Saifi. 35-year-old Shehzad is from Baghpat district, and had left his native village, out of fear of being attacked. His wife and two children, nine-year-old Muskaan and two-year-old Shehzadi, were also with him in the camp. But when his wife had reached the camp, she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby boy mid-September.
But just 15 days back, the baby had died.
Shehzad is convinced it was because of pneumonia. Though there was no doctor at the camp or in the nearby village to diagnose the baby's medical condition.
"We didn't have enough warm clothes and blankets then. It was just the middle of November. He was unwell for a few days, and then one day he died," he said.
It was 9.30. That was the time Shehzad had dinner. He took us to his tent where his wife Dilshana was making chapatis. 25-year-old Dilshana had just one shawl around her to keep herself warm. Her daughter Muskaan had already gone to bed, but was woken up to have dinner. Dinner was one vegetable dish with chapatis. Two-year-old Shehzadi was also made to eat that.
"I wish I could give her some warm milk. Because that is what children her age need the most. The other children who died, also did not get any milk for the past two months," says Dilshana. Thankfully we noticed that Shehzadi at least has a warm sweater and woollen cap covering her body.
"It is only NGOs who have given warm clothes, blankets and ration to us. There has been nothing so far from the government" adds Shehzad.
By 10.30, the family wraps up and prepares to go to sleep. The tent was barely 7 feet by 7 feet. It had only place for one charpoy and some bedding. Shehzad got the charpoy with a blanket. Dilshana, Muskaan and baby Shehzadi were all on the floor. Bundled under a single quilt.
As we were about to leave the relief camp at midnight, we noticed that most tents had put out the lanterns. Even the bonfires were few and far between. From a distance it looked peaceful. But the temperature had already dropped to 11 degrees, and dew had started building up on the roof of the tent. The tents had plastic sheets on top, to provide some protection to the inmates from the dew at night. But we were told, it did not really help.