NDFB(S) violence: Over 7,000 refugees return home

Guwahati: More than 7,000 people hit by NDFB(S) violence in Assam have returned to their homes since yesterday with gradual improvement of the situation though over 1.2 lakh people are still lodged in camps in three districts. According to an official release by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 1,22,725 people are living in 68 relief camps in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Udalguri districts at this moment. [caption id=“attachment_2014721” align=“aligncenter” width=“380”]  Security personnel patrolling while villagers gather at a relief camp after Bodo militants group NDFB(S) attack, in Kokrajhar. PTI[/caption] The authority has closed down the only relief camp left in Sonitpur with the departure of the inmates to their homes. “During last 24 hours, nine relief camps have been closed down in Sonitpur, Udalguri and Kokrajhar districts and there is no operational relief camp in Sonitpur as reported by district administration,” ASDMA chief executive officer Pramod Kumar Tiwari said. In total, 7,103 inmates have left the relief camps for their villages during this period, he said. There has been no report of any untoward incident from any part of these districts and the situation has been improving fast, Tiwari said, adding the authority is hopeful that all people will return to their homes very soon. At present, over 1.02 lakh people are staying at 53 relief camps in Kokrajhar. It is followed by Chirang, where almost 20,000 people are staying at 11 camps. Authorities are running four relief camps in Udalguri and 728 people are staying at this moment in these places. District officials of Kokrajhar went to Alipurduar in West Bengal and brought back 450 Adivasi refugees from two camps. Efforts are being taken to bring back inmates from two other camps in the district. Altogether 81 people, including 66 Adivasis, 13 Bodos and two Bengali-speaking persons, were killed since 23 December in serial attacks by NDFB(S) terrorists, retaliatory violence and police firing across four districts. PTI