Laxmi's story

Laxmi is 50 years old. She lives in Shakti Nagar with her husband,
Kalu Ram Raikwar [50], their sons Sunil [24], Shankar [22], Gagan [18] and her daughter-in-law Bhagwati [19], wife of Sunil.

Laxmi told her story to Ritesh:
I had made daal and roti [bread] for dinner like every other day. We went to bed at around 10 PM. We did not know that some thing like
this could happen. My husband was the first to get up early next morning at around 4 AM. By then water had already risen to 3 feet inside the house. He woke all of us up.
We saw that water was flowing over the boundary wall of Union Carbide factory and coming towards our houses. we went up on the roof
of our neighbour. we saw large snakes coming out of cracks in the wall.
The water kept rising in the house. All our bedding and what ever grains we had – about two quintals – were submerged and wasted for ever. We have lost about ten thousand rupees.
We have not stopped itching all over our bodies ever since we
waded through the water. We also have eye infections, fever and colds. Many people in the basti have similar complaints and everyone has eye problems.

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