Restrictions on evacuees at Mana
From A Staff Reporter, MANA CAMP (Madhya Pradesh), JUNE 17. – The chairman of Raipur Municipality, it is learnt, has imposed restrictions on the movement of Bangladesh evacuees, brought here from West Bengal.
The chairman feels this measure is “absolutely necessary as a precaution against out-break of cholera and other contagious diseases among the local inhabitants.” The evacuees he believed were carrying infection with them.
He has as well written to the camp authorities asking them not to induct any more evacuees into the Mana-Raipur area where the local population now stands at about 200,000 so long as proper accommodation arrangements are not made for them.
The commandant-in-chief of the camps Mr. S. P. Nandi, told me that he was taking every care to see that these evacuees could not move freely in the town about five miles from the camp. He however could not rule out the possibilities of some people going inside the town “just for strolling around”. He admitted that all the refugees could not be readily accommodated in tents on their arrival by train or plane.
Dr. Phanibhusan Mondal, Medical Officer of the camp, said they had been treating quite a large number of patients mostly of malnutritions and gastro-enteritis among the Bangladesh evacuees. So far, a lone patient suspected to be the victim of cholera center but he had recovered because of timely medical attention. He did not apprehend any large-scale outbreak of cholera in the area at this stage.
The camp authorities which had already segregated the Bangladesh evacuees from the old camp-dwellers believed that there could be no accommodation problem if there was enough supply of tarpaulin to set up new tents. There are vast vacant lands in the area where an adequate number of tents could be pitched.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 18.06.1971