Center May Take Charge of 50% Of Refugees
By Our Special Representative, The Government of India is expected to soon take over the charge of almost half of about 4.4 million Bangladesh evacuees now living in different camps in West Bengal.
The Center’s willingness is said to have been conveyed at a high level meeting convened by the Governor. Mr. Dias, in Calcutta on Tuesday to examine the relief measures for the evacuees and the present condition in camps following the floods. The Joint Secretary, Union Rehabilitation Ministry, Mr. Luthra and the Chief Secretary Mr. N. C. Sengupta also attended the meeting. It was noted at the meeting that the Centre’s programme to disperse evacuees to other States had not made much headway. The progress in construction of camps in districts, like Midnapore. Bankura and Birbhum had also not been quite satisfactory. As a result, the State Government was getting no relief.
One result of this situation was that the District Magistrates were forced to keep themselves and their respective administrations fully engaged with evacuee relief to the detriment of normal development and other work. But the Center’s decision might relieve the pressure on the district administrations to a great extent.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 14.09.1971