300 from Assam flee to Alipurduar - Local residents cook food for riot-affected at mosque near border

TT ;Alipurduar, July 26: Three hundred people from riot-hit Kokrajhar in Assam today crossed over to Bengal and took shelter in a mosque in Alipurduar, raising the number of those staying there to 856.More people are likely to cross over if tension persists in the four Bodo districts of Assam as train services to the Northeast have resumed now.Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today toured the relief camps in Kokrajhar.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to tour the areas affected by the riots on Saturday.No fresh clashes broke out in the Bodo areas today but two bodies were found, which raises the death toll in the ethnic riots to 42.Yesterday, Alipurduar SDO Amal Kanti Roy had visited the mosque at Mominpara, about 30km from the Bengal-Assam border, and arranged for food, tarpaulin sheets and firewood for 556 people who had taken shelter there. Most of them are women and children.Roy had said yesterday that medical staff would visit the mosque, where one child had died.  This morning, health officials arrived at the camp with medicines. Police personnel are also guarding the camp.Today, local people of Alipurduar-II block cooked food and set up tents outside the mosque for the fresh arrivals.People fleeing from villages in Kokrajhar have been trickling into Alipurduar-II and Kumargram blocks for the last three days. In all, over 2,000 people have moved into two blocks of Jalpaiguri — Alipuduar II and Kumargram, which is on the state border.Kayesh Momin, a Mominpara resident involved in the relief work, said the people here needed clothes, baby food and sanitation facilities. “On Monday and Tuesday, the number of people was less and we arranged everything locally.  But on Tuesday evening, when a large number of people reached the camp, we went to block administration officials.”He said: “After the SDO visited the place, we have received 15 quintal of rice, 15kg of dal, 15kg of potato and 5kg of mustard oil.”Mojidul Ansari, who has fled Salakati in Kokrajhar, said: “There is hardly any security presence (in our village). Last night, we saw a few policemen in our area for the first time…. As the trains are running now, many people will come here from Salakati.”