Assam violence: Victims begin to return home

While 42 relief camps have been closed down in the past three days in the four violence-affected districts of Kokrajhar,Chirang,Dhubri and Bongaigaon,the total number of camp inmates however continue to increase. As per Friday’s situation report prepared by the state home department,there were still 4,45,586 persons in 277 camps.

Of the 277 relief camps still operational in the affected districts,76 belong to the Bodo community and 199 to the migrant minority Muslims.

In the worst-affected Kokrajhar district,over 98,000 Bodo people and about 80,000 Muslims are lodged in 53 and 17 relief camps,respectively,the official situation report said.

The authorities have so far closed down 42 relief camps,of which 21 are in Chirang district and 17 in Kokrajhar.

But the official situation report said while two new relief camps for the minority community were set up since Thursday in Kokrajhar district,62 persons from the minority community had shifted to relief camps in Bongaigaon on Friday.

Meanwhile,senior CPI leader D Raja on Friday hit out at both the Centre and the state government for their alleged failure to handle the situation. “The situation could have been brought under control much earlier had Delhi and Dispur acted in the right manner on the first two days when violence broke out,” he said here after a visit to the violence-hit districts.

“We also found that the people lodged in relief camps were not being taken care of properly. The camp inmates have complained of short supply of food materials,firewood and safe drinking water,while there was also a shortage of effective medicine,” Raja said.