Sohgi Barwa and Shikarpur are two very remote villages on the border of Nepal and Bihar. The villages are located approximately 65 km from the block headquarters in Nichlaul, in the Mahrajganj district of Uttar Pradesh. The Narayani River (also called Badi Gandak) passes through the area and makes the villages almost inaccessible. One has to traverse through four km of sandy land from river on foot to reach the area. Road access to the villages is via Bihar, across the bridge over the Narayani River. The 60 km to the villages by road takes almost three hours, as one has to trudge last few kilometers on foot depending on the condition of temporary bridges made across the multitude of streams that flow into the river. Interestingly, Sohgi Barwa and Shikarpur account for almost one - third of the Musahaar (a dalit community) population in the district. Thus, these two villages are of strategic importance for any development planning.

The difficulty in access to food and rations in the area points to the level of isolation. This is true for government run programmes/schemes and services. Mr. Badruddin in the Babu tola (neighbourhood/community) and Mr. Sarwa Singh in the Mandir tola run fair price shops for Shikarpur and Sohgi Barwa respectively. Together, they both cater to the needs of nearly 1500 household under the government run Public Distribution System (PDS). We have been hearing widespread complaints from poor villagers about kotedars (persons responsible for the quotas/dealing of rations) charging extra money for Antyodaya (scheme for the poorest population) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) rations and that cardholders did not receive Annapurna (for senior citizens) ration because of erratic supply by the supply department. When we spoke to the kotedars they accepted that they charge extra. They told us their margin of profit is too little at, Rs. 6 per quintal (100 kg) for BPL grains, as are the loading and freight charges they get from government (Rs. 3 per quintal). Hesitatingly, the kotedars also informed that they must pay commissions to sub-district level officials for of taking grains. Moreover, they said that by distributing grain, they are doing a kind service to the people in the area. If they would be forced to comply with the fixed rates and other PDS norms they would prefer to close down the fair price ration shops and happily hand it over to someone else. However a cost benefit analysis of the two ration shops shows that they still manage to make a net profit of Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 per month. However, our repeated pleas to run the shop properly still went unheard.

Recently some Musahaar tribal people, as in the case of Prabhans and Govind, caught Sarwa Singh, the kotedar in Sohgi barwa, making false entries in the Annapurna ration card records and siphoning away the grains meant for extremely poor people and the destitute living below poverty line. The kotedar made false entries for advanced months before distributing grains for five Annapurna cards. The details of the cards are given blow.

Some more cards along with the abovementioned cards were in possession of the kotedar himself. When some villagers outspokenly complained, the kotedar corrected the false entries in some cards, while abovementioned cardholders secured above five cards in their possession. When we spoke to Jeera he informed, "The kotedar opens the fair price shop only for 3-4 days and there is no notice board or information relating to the stock or selling price". As a result, while the villagers are supposed to receive Antyodaya ration cards at the rate of Rs.110 per 35 kg of grains, instead the kotedar made entries of only Rs. 90 on the ration cards and distribution register. This type of corruption is not rare and points to the dire condition of the PDS in Sohgi barwa, which demands urgent attention.

During the hearing of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) versus Government of India and others, the honorable Supreme Court of India passed an interim order on May 2, 2003. This order instructs that those Fair Price Shop (FPS) owners who:

Will have their license scrapped and officials should not make any laxity about it.

In this case, the people of Sohgi Barwa village have made written complaints to the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Nichlaul and the District Magistrate of Mahrajganj, who are yet to take any action. Thus far, more than a month has gone by since the written complaints were submitted, but no satisfactory response has been received from local authorities. Laungi and Bagri informed us that the Supply Inspector and Marketing Inspector had gone to the village and had taken signatures on blank paper. According to Prabhans musahar, who made complaint on behalf of the people, "There was no proper enquiry into the issue and thus, it has been buried under the carpet".

Despite the current inaction, the people of Mahrajganj still hope to get some relief from the government.