Officials deny Assam child epidemic
Situation in relief camps under control as fresh violence flares
Refugees at a camp in Chirang district (Photo: Thomas D’Silva, Bongaigaon)
- Ritu Sharma, New Delhi
- India
- August 6, 2012
Medical officials in Assam have emphatically denied media reports saying epidemics have struck down thousands of children in relief camps set up to house 350,000 displaced people who fled ethnic clashes in the state.
“Everything is under control. We are monitoring the situation. I don’t know where these reports are coming from,” said Ananta Mohan Raba, director of health services in Kokrajhar district, one of the affected areas.
Media reports yesterday said at least 6,000 children in northeastern state’s violence-torn Kokrajhar, Chirang, Dhubri and Baska districts have fallen ill due to insufficient food, drinking water and medicine.
There are no epidemics in the camps and “we are providing everything the people need in sufficient quantities,” Raba told ucanews.com today.
He said officials at some of the camps have even started relocating people back to their villages.
Bongaigaon diocese spokesman Father Thomas D’Silva also denied the reports.
“Our medical teams are in the camps and have not reported any such thing.”
He condemned the reports as sensationalism and a complete exaggeration of the whole situation since the government is providing all possible help to the displaced.
All four affected areas that form the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) fall within the diocese.
Kokrajhar is the administrative center of BTAD, an autonomous region within the state that has witnessed ethnic violence for more than 20 years.
Meanwhile, four people were killed in fresh clashes yesterday, taking the toll in the ethnic violence to 62.
Two bodies were found in Chirang and the other two were recovered in adjoining Kokrajhar.
A blast was also reported near Goreswar in Baska district in which three people were injured, while an indefinite curfew has been imposed in Chirang.
The fresh violence comes after relative calm was restored in the strife-torn districts last month.
The violence began on July 20 after tribal people accused Muslims of killing several indigenous Bodo youths.
Related reports
Aid starts to flow after PM’s Assam visit
Tribals and Muslims clash: 21 dead
“Everything is under control. We are monitoring the situation. I don’t know where these reports are coming from,” said Ananta Mohan Raba, director of health services in Kokrajhar district, one of the affected areas.
Media reports yesterday said at least 6,000 children in northeastern state’s violence-torn Kokrajhar, Chirang, Dhubri and Baska districts have fallen ill due to insufficient food, drinking water and medicine.
There are no epidemics in the camps and “we are providing everything the people need in sufficient quantities,” Raba told ucanews.com today.
He said officials at some of the camps have even started relocating people back to their villages.
Bongaigaon diocese spokesman Father Thomas D’Silva also denied the reports.
“Our medical teams are in the camps and have not reported any such thing.”
He condemned the reports as sensationalism and a complete exaggeration of the whole situation since the government is providing all possible help to the displaced.
All four affected areas that form the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) fall within the diocese.
Kokrajhar is the administrative center of BTAD, an autonomous region within the state that has witnessed ethnic violence for more than 20 years.
Meanwhile, four people were killed in fresh clashes yesterday, taking the toll in the ethnic violence to 62.
Two bodies were found in Chirang and the other two were recovered in adjoining Kokrajhar.
A blast was also reported near Goreswar in Baska district in which three people were injured, while an indefinite curfew has been imposed in Chirang.
The fresh violence comes after relative calm was restored in the strife-torn districts last month.
The violence began on July 20 after tribal people accused Muslims of killing several indigenous Bodo youths.
Related reports
Aid starts to flow after PM’s Assam visit
Tribals and Muslims clash: 21 dead
