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Kandhmal violence victims to stay in tents for a while

BERHAMPUR: Tents near their gutted houses would be the temporary new homes for victims of communal violence in Kandhmal district.

The victims living in relief camps that ran in schools at Barkhama, Baliguda and Brahmanigaon were shifted back to their own localities from Sunday evening. This step had to be taken as the schools had to be reopened. But these families needed roofs on their heads to bear the winter chill in this coldest district in Orissa. Instead of providing polythene sheets to the victim families the administration preferred to erect 300 tents to accommodate these families till they build up their new houses with government help.

The group of tents of victims would also have a tent for armed police men, who would guard the victims who have started to live as refugees in their own villages. State Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal along with Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) N. K. Sundaray on Monday visited the areas where these tents have been set up for the victims at Barkhama and Brahmanigaon.

Ramahari Bisoi of Brahmanigaon now lives with his family in a tent in front of his totally gutted house. But the female members of his house prefer to spend their whole day salvaging remnants from their gutted house.

But the small children who are yet to understand the world preferred to play ‘hide and seek’ between tents under the watchful eyes of rifle-wielding policemen in the vicinity.

Although tents would provide shelter for these homeless victims, there would be surely problem of sanitation due to lack of adequate number of toilets.

According to Additional Relief Commissioner Gyanaranjan Dash, the homeless victim families living in tents were being provided Rs. 40,000 so they could build up a new house as early as possible. Most of the victim families have already received Rs 10,000 from this amount.

They would be provided building materials for this construction work through the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Baliguda.

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