Satkshira once again humming with life
From A Staff Reporter, Satkhira Khulna, Jan. 6 -Evacuees in boats, bullock carts and buses started to return to this Sub-Divisional town of Khulna in hundreds back from India where they had taken refuge during the outbreak of atrocities in BanglaDesh after occupation by the Pakistani army. The town which had been left vacant after the occupation army moved in March of the last year is now humming with life. The streets are crowded, the shops are full of buyers and small hotels and restaurants are carrying brisk trade. Only the cinema house is closed.
Visiting the town on Thursday we a group of journalists gathered the experience that the liberation of BanglaDesh has brought a change in the mind of the people who had forgotten gloom and despair. Everyone, from rickshaw puller to local teacher feels that they will have to build up a new nation based on love, friendship and secularism.
During our short stay in the town we noticed that life became normal. A local resident said that the occupation of the town by Army curfew restricted the movement of the people during night or day. But now they can even “dance” on the streets till late hours of night without interfering. There was no law and order problem, the Mukti Fauz men were looking after them.
Ibrahim Molla, a resident of Satkhira town said that the people who had looted the property of the persons who left the town during the trouble were asked by the Mukti Fauz men to surrender to looted articles. Mr. Mollah took us to a place where we found a huge quantity of tin sheets and furniture piled up together. The owners of their properties came and took them back.
We met the Sub Divisional Officer; Mr. MD. Sahajahan Ali at his office, Mr. Ali was busy in discussing arrangements for the proper rehabilitation of the evacuees who were coming back from India.
According to him five camps had been set up in five thanas of the Sub Division and in average 5,000 people had been accommodated in their camps till January 2.
| Mr. Ali said that in all these camps the people were supplied with clothings and foodstuff. He further said that the communication gap was creating a great difficulty in coordinating the arrangement for the distribution of relief.
The officers who had been connected with the preparation of the lists of the persons to be rehabilitated were not able to collect the exact figures of the arrival of the displaced persons due to lack of communication. In most places the bridges had been blown and roads had been damaged by the occupation Army during their retreat.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 07.01.1972