8 May 2002
CLOSURE OF GUJARAT'S RELIEF CAMPS:
FALSE ALARM
From Jal Khambata
NEW DELHI:
The controversy of the Gujarat Government ordering closure of relief
camps as raked up by CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee and picked up
by the entire Opposition in the Lok Sabha to go to the extent of a
walk-out turns out to be a false alarm based on an old Gujarat
Revenue Department's circular of March 6.
Somnathbabu had
insisted that the collectors have been asked to order closure of the
relief camps by May 30, 2002. The date he mentioned does figure in
the circular but the context is different and no order has been
issued in the recent past to force closure of the relief camps.
The
circular, which is in Gujarati, was issued a week after the communal
carnage rocked Gujarat specifically "With regard to providing
assistance to the camps being run by the voluntary organisations
after communal violence" (Kaumi Ramkhano: Svechchhik Sansthao
dhwara chalvta kempne sahay puri padva ange).
It lays down the
conditions which the organisers of the camps should satisfy for
getting relief from the State Government in terms of free ration and
Rs 5 per person per day. A copy of the Gujarati circular with its
translation in English and Hindi ''giving the permission to relief
camps to operate till May 31, 2002 only'' was released by pro-CPI(M)
organisation SAHMAT on Wednesday.
The controversy was raked up
on the basis of a paragraph that says that "District Collectors
should register camps only if satisfied that these conditions are
fulfilled and accord sanction maximum up to May 31, 2002" (Jilla
collectorshrine santosh thay ke sansthao dhwara upar mujabnee sharto
santoshvama ave chhe, to aa camp ne nondhani karshe and vadhuma vadhu
taa. 31/5/2002 sudhi manjuree aapshe."
Since Somnath
Chatterjee has avoided mentioning date of the order or circular which
mandates closure of the relief camps, Home Minister Lal Krishna
Advani could not guess which circular he was talking about but all
the same he had asserted in the Lok Sabha that he had "no
information that camps are being closed." END