No aid for clash-hit pregnant women

GOALPARA: Their deliveries are imminent and yet there's no food and medicine to nourish them in this critical stage. More than six women are expected to go into labour shortly in the relief camps set up by the administration after clashes between the Rabhas and the Garos rocked the villages of Darakona, Haloapara and Thurikapara in the first week of January. But there's no healthcare for them as also the infants who've been suddenly thrown into a strange harsh world.

The Nibari Primary, M E and High School in Kukurkata area along the Assam-Meghalaya border are brimming over with hundreds of such women, children and men who fled their native places in fear. "More than six women are expecting. Their husbands are concerned about their health," said Amulya Kumar Rabha, assistant in-charge of the Kukurkata camp.

The women are not only being deprived of medical care but also nutritious meals. "We are just being fed rice, pulses and cauliflower," said Pandu Rabha. He said essential medicines like iron and folic acid tablets are not available at the camps. There's no special meal for pregnant women and children.

Dhiren Rabha said they are given food twice a day and both meals comprise the staple rice, pulses and cauliflower. "How can expecting women and children get nourishment?"

A doctor visits the camp occasionally. "There's no one coming regularly to check the pregnant women," complained Amulya Kumar Rabha, another camp resident, adding that women are being forced to sleep on beds of hay, including those who have babies to take care of.

Mukut Rabha, a 60-year-old, was yet accept the reality that he had lost everything in the violence that erupted on that night of horror. "My house was burned down. I cannot go back to my home. And look where I am staying now."

At least nine people were killed and around 50,000 people displaced in the ethnic violence that began on January 1. Altogether 103 people were arrested and 25 cases of attempted arson and rioting registered in Meghalaya, where 26 villages have been affected and about 1500 houses burnt during the clashes. The Assam and Meghalaya governments carried out continuous joint patrolling in the ethnic violence-hit areas along their borders in a bid to restore peace after the clashes. Recently, authorities concerned have been trying to ensure that no displaced students miss their Class X and XII board exams due to the violence.