No relief in relief camps

Lakhs of people were forced to stay in the so-called ‘relief camps’, which sprang up after the ferocious violence that erupted in the four districts of lower Assam, located within the Bodoland Territorial Administrative District and the three rounds of floods this year. However, the unhygienic conditions in the relief camps have affected the lives of the people very badly.

Months have passed but lakhs of people are still taking shelter in ‘relief camps’ located in the four districts of Lower Assam (Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang and Bongaigaon) and in the flood-hit districts. The recent third round of floods this year , have affected over 17.60 lakh people in 16  districts and about four lakh of them are in relief camps.

In the first wave of floods which occurred in June-July, 122 lives were claimed and it affected over 22 lakh people. In Majuli (Jorhat district), 1.65 lakh people were affected as flood water from the river Brahmaputra submerged nearly 90 per cent of the island’s total area. In the world famous Kaziranga National Park, most of the low lying areas had been submerged.

As per news reports, a section of the more than six lakh people who fled to nearly 350 camps (because of the riots) have apparently managed to return home. But close to 40 per cent of them are still in camps, having lost their houses and assets to arson and looting, or held back by the land verification process initiated by the State government and the Bodoland Territorial Council, or simply too frightened to return to villages in areas dominated by the other communities involved in the violence.

In these relief camps, children and women are the worst hit. The conditions into which they have been forced to seek asylum are equally unbearable. These shelter homes are impossibly crowded with the mere minimum of basic amenities like water and sanitation and practically no medical care. . According to a report, thousands of pregnant women who stayed in these camps have no gynaecologist to look after them and people are dying of malaria and diarrhoea.

 ‘Nutrition factor’ is also a problem, with official food relief essentially restricted mainly to rice and dal. While the availability of milk and nutritious supplements for children varies from camp to camp, there is no evidence anywhere of educational services. Since most camps are housed in schools and colleges, local students cannot study.

However, local schools are belatedly beginning to reopen but they are unlikely to be able to accommodate all the displaced children, especially from densely populated camps. Clothes are also in short supply, with most people having fled homes in panic.

To make matters worse; the late September rains have degraded the situation in several camps. No one seems to know if and when the nearly two lakh people still living in camps will be able to return to their villages or provided with decent temporary accommodation elsewhere.

Considering the health hazards posed by such living conditions, it is encouraging to learn that delivery of public health services is fairly regular and on the whole satisfactory.

 Another dimension of the conflict situation is the suffering of women in the relief camps. Ridden by the ‘dreams’ that have collapsed and ‘thought’ that is penetrated by the past, women in the camps find themselves suddenly alone, heading their households at a time when they are least prepared, when their whole life has been turned upside down. They silently bear the grief of losing a family member, the trauma of displacement and the challenge of survival in their new environment.

Till the last reports came in, Government officials have claimed that the inmates of the relief camp who possess land documents would be rehabilitated soon. For the remaining 42,000-odd inmates, who do not possess land documents, the State Government and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) authorities would soon decide on the process of verification of alternative documents and start their rehabilitation accordingly.

Though the heat and dust generated by the violence and floods has settled down, the consequences have left everyone grappling for solutions. The violence has left a deep scar in the minds of those affected by it. And as if to add insult to injury, nature has played its part rather perfectly to ensure that the impact of the twin incidents is painful and  unending.