Riot-hit Orissa villagers migrate to towns: Minority body
Bhubaneswar, Oct 09: Scared of returning to their homes in riot-hit Kandhamal district, a large number of victims have migrated to urban areas in Orissa and other states, a minority body alleged on Thursday.
"At least 20 families have left for Kerala and 10 other families went to Surat in Gujarat," President of Orissa Minority Forum Swarupananda Patra told reporters here.
He claimed that a few of the affected people, who have left the relief camps have been taking shelter in city slums.
Patra said similar was the fate of the inmates of several relief camps in Cuttack. Some of the victims had been doing manual works in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar to earn a living, he pointed out.
Giving the example of Suresh Nayak, an inmate of a relief camp in Cuttack, he said Nayak had been working as a labourer at construction sites, while 11 others either took up jobs of tailor or driver in Cuttack.
Though the state government claimed that the situation was gradually improving in Kandhamal, Christian leaders said the administration's version was incorrect as the people did not return to their villages.
"Of the 10,000 people, who left several relief camps in Kandhamal, none has returned to the villages. Where have they gone? Does the government know their whereabouts?" they asked.
Though the state government claimed that the situation was gradually improving in Kandhamal, Christian leaders said the administration's version was incorrect because the people did not return to their villages.
"Of the 10,000 people who left several relief camps in Kandhamal, none has returned to the villages. Where have they gone? Did the government know their whereabouts?" they asked.
The minority forum leader alleged that saffron flags were being put in the villages as the Christians were away from their homes.
"Go as a Christian and return to the village as a Hindu, was written on the walls in Kandhamal," Christian leaders alleged.
Bureau Report
Source: ZeeNews
Date: Oct 09, 2008
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