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Orissa victims leave jungle, reach Capital

After spending three days and three nights in hide-outs, hunger and thirst force them out

They are afraid of returning to their homes
“The miscreants set fire to the entire village.”

Photo: AP

A futile search: A girl salvages belongings from her burnt down home at Minia village in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Saturday.

Bhubaneswar: More than 100 families who had fled the riot-hit Kandhamal district have reached the Capital city after spending over three days in jungle.

Some of them, who managed to find an accommodation at the YMCA here, said they had initially fled to jungle after their houses in Rupagaon village were torched by assailants who were protesting the killing of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati.

After spending three days and three nights in hide-outs, hunger and thirst forced them out.

Afraid of returning to the village or to relief camps set up by Orissa Government, they decided to move to the Capital city.

Most of them walked to Daspalla in neighbouring Nayagarh district, a distance of about 40 km, before catching a bus to this city.

Lodged at YMCA

While 37 families were lodged at the YMCA, others took refuge at their relatives’ houses in the city, said Rabinda Pradhan, one of the villagers who lost a brother in the riot.

“The miscreants set fire to the entire village,” they said.

Narrating the ordeal with tears rolling down her cheeks, Gitanjali (20) said her brother Rasananda was burnt to death in front of the terror-stricken family members. “On the night of August 24, a day after Swamiji’s killing nearly 100 armed people came to our village and asked us to come out of the house. Though three of my brothers managed to run away, Rasananda (35) could not come out as he had a broken leg,” she said.

Her three brothers and four sisters-in-law have also taken shelter here.

The tales of woe narrated by Bhagabati Pradhan, Basanti Pradhan, Jagabandhu Pradhan and others were similar. – PTI

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