Mrs. Gandhi Flying to Calcutta
Inder Malhothra
Bombay, June 4, Mrs Gandhi will fly to Calcutta tomorrow to look at the refugee problem and try to mollify the West Bengal ministry which seems to have been driven to despair by the daily influx. In Parliament today, the Prime Minister neither confirmed nor denied reports that the Chief minister of West Bengal. Mr. Ajoy Mukherjee, has threatened to resign unless New Delhi assumes responsibility for every aspect of the refugee problem.
Since the Central Government already foots the bill for the relief operation, what Mr. Mukherjee evidently wants is that New Delhi should also take responsibility for the physical administration of the camps, as well as for dispersal of more than four million refugees whose number increases every day. His view is understandable because the overstretched administration of West Bengal is in no position to cope with ‘four million destitute people clamoring for shelter, food, and employment
What has proved the last straw on the back of West Bengal is the arrival of Calcutta of more than 50,000 destitute refugees and the possibility that many will follow. Fifty thousand men, women and children were reported on the outskirts of Dum Dum airport, desperately trying to establish themselves in a city which cannot feed, house, or clothe its own population.
Reference: The Guardian, 5 June, 1971.