Himalayan Times (1957)

November 3, 19S7

Turea

1SS NAIDU APPEALS FOR ENDURING RESETTLEMENT

5—Point Rehabilitation Scheme Outlined

(From Our Special Bepruenlalive)
Darjeeling, Ootober 30

The two day confer-
ence of Ministers of Re-
habilitation of eleven Sta-
tes was inaugurated here
thin afternoon by (he
West Bengal Governor,
Miss Padmaja Naidu.

Inaugurating the con-
ference, Hiss Naidu, said:
"It is a debt of honour
that every refugee sh uld
be givnn some measure
of peace as well as pros-
perity. So long as one
•ingle refugee remains
neglected, or unhappy! or
in want, so long will our
debt remains unpaid."

Therefore, th« con
ference would b • watched
with olose interns;, not
only by refugees but those
who believed this question
to be a challenge to pride
of India and to her na-
tional integrity. It was
a miracle that truncated
West Ber gal had b-en
able to survive ordeal of
shattered economy in ad-
dition to providing succour
to ovtr 3,000,000 refugees.
But perilous limit had
now been reached and it
was imperative that some
ultimate and enduring so-
lution should be speedily
devised.

Mr. Mehr Chand
Kbanna, Union Rehabili-
tation Minister, presiding
over the conference, out-
lined the five-point soheme
for solving rehabilition
problem by the end of
the second Plan period.
These related to early
liquidation of oajiips high
priority for setting up
cattage and small scale
industries to create more
avenues of employment;
co-ordination of rehabili-
tation programmes with
plants of general and
economic development,
speedy reclaimation of and
development of available
land and.greater emphasis
on technical training.

'.. Mr Khanna said in
vidw of the heavy concen-
tration of displaced per-
sons in West Bengal.
Assam and 'irpura and
paucity of good land. in
other States polioy regard-
ing extending relief and
rehabilitation benefit to
future migrants from East
Pakistan should be recon-
sidered.

Mr. P. C. Sen, West
Bengal's. Rehabilitation
Minister, after outlining the
problems and measures,

said certain political par-
ties were trying to make
but that Congress was ask-
ing for a ban on Hindu
migration from East Pa»
kistan. Actually the West
Bengal Pradesh Congress
conference at Howrah dis-
cussed the question whe-
ther even after 10 years'
could rehabilitation facili-
ties be extended to future
migrants indefinitely.

'There is no question
of our going back on our
pledges given to the re-
fugees regarding rehabili-
tation. We have, there
fore, come here' not to
show them any lip sym-
pathy, but to devise ways
of resettling them as
quickly as possible.''

'••.'Mr. Drayid. Relief
and Rehabilitation Minis-
ter, Madbya Pradesh as-
sured that bis State would
absorb 1,500 families and
pointed out that all future
schemes of rehabilitation
in his State would . be
assessed in details and
refugees taken only in
batches for permanent set-
tlement straightway.

He said that a strict
check and survey should
be oonducted before for-
mulation of any scheme.
The Dandakaranya scheme
had great -potentialities,
but it would take quite
a long time for proper
development of the region.

(Continued on pa^e 9)