55,000 Refugees Return
To Bangladesh In 2 Days By a Staff Reporter, PACKED in special trains, UNICEF trucks and an assortment of vehicles rankings from horse and bullock carts to rickshaws, over 55,000 have returned to their homes in Bangladesh from camps in West Bengal since Saturday when the repatriation program was officially begun. Five special trains on Saturday and Sunday took over 10,000 evacuees to Jessore, Khulna and Kushtia from where many of them will proceed to their homes in the neighboring districts in Barisal, Faridpur, Patuakhali and Dacca.
The evacuees will spend a day at the various staging camps from where they will try to get transport to reach their homes in the villages. Transport has posed a big problem if each of the camps are not provided with a fleet of trucks or buses it might be very difficult to speedily disperse the evacuees from the camps. With the setting in of a cold wave in Bangladesh, the evacuees are a bit hesitant in undertaking long trek back home from the staging camps. About 12 lakh evacuees have come from the Jessore and Khulna district alone.
The evacuees are taking with them ration for 14 days, utensils, and clothing provided by the Government. Each adult has been paid Rs. 2 and a minor Rs 1 to meet expenses.
Many of the railway coaches and engines of the special trains carrying the evacuees have been got from the Bangladesh Railways.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 03.01.1972