KOKRAJHAR, July 29 � With the situation in the riot-hit Kokrajhar limping back to normalcy, curfew was relaxed for 12 hours from 5 am to 6 pm today, providing relief to people struggling to meet their daily requirements. Despite the relaxation of curfew, however, fear psychosis continued to grip the people with no clear-cut solution to the conflict in sight.
A fresh violence was reported at Gossaigaon today, in which several houses were gutted, but there was no report of any injuries to people.
The relief camps here, on the other hand, continued to face a serious crisis with non-arrival of relief materials meant for the riot-affected inmates. People at relief camps alleged that while they have been given shelter in these camps, their properties back home have been razed to ashes and many houses have been looted and livestock stolen, leaving them with an uncertain future when they return home after normalising of the situation.
Various political parties and non-political organizations, meanwhile, appealed to the people at large to maintain peace and try to rebuild trust and confidence among each other, as they argued that conflicts are no solution to crises.
Meanwhile, reports of several deaths have been reported from relief camps due to lack of treatment. A lot of people have blamed the authorities for sheer negligence in providing relief materials and denied having received any relief grants from the government side so far.
Today, the president of Bodo Women�s Justice Forum (BWJF) in a press meet here asserted that these were neither incidents of ethnic cleansing nor a conflict between the Bodos and the minority community. Rather, she said, it is a conflict between the indigenous people and the illegal migrants.
Our Staff Reporter adds: The situation in the BTAD area is improving and no major incident of violence was reported in the past 48 hours, said an official release.
The release said that the State Government is committed to rehabilitating all the displaced people, around four lakh of whom are now living in 278 relief camps. Fixed police pickets will be deployed in the villages and adequate security forces have already been deployed in the affected areas.
The Chief Minister expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for visiting the violence-hit areas and extending full support to the State Government in the hour of crisis. The Chief Minister also asserted that the State and Central Governments are working in complete synergy to tackle the situation.
The State Government also thanked the Prime Minister for announcing a financial package for the rehabilitation of the affected people and assured that various schemes would be launched to help the violence affected people, the release said.
