Nagaon (Assam): Amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown and consequential restraint of resources faced by the general public, an elderly couple in Assam's Nagaon district has been forced to consume water hyacinth for survival.
Residents of Gohain Gaon under Udmari Panchayat in Central Assam's Nagaon district, Bhairab Swargiary (85) and Rupati Swargiary (73) have been gorging on water hyacinth - a wild aquatic plant with not much nutritional value - for the last couple of days due to shortage of food.
“What can we do. We will eat something if we happen to get some food otherwise we will starve. We have been eating 'meteka' (meaning water hyacinth in Assamese) for the last few days by simply soaking it in water as we don’t have salt, oil, or chilli. It is not good at all but we have to eat something to live on,” said Rupati.
The 73-year-old added, “the government has provided us with rice but it’s not enough.”
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With their son, a driver by profession and the sole breadwinner, stuck in the neighbouring state of Nagaland due to the lockdown, the couple has been left without a penny and at the mercy of the government and their neighbours.
