Collectors asked to gather inform on post-Godhra relief colonies

Ahmedabad, Apr 11 (UNI) The Nanavati-Shah Commission today directed district collectors of nine districts in Gujarat to collect information on the families who have been living in makeshift colonies after being displaced by post-Godhra riots of 2002.

The directive came after a report compiled by Anhad, an organisation working for the cause of the internally displaced people, was submitted to the Commission which is probing the Godhra incident and the riots of 2002. The Government too had been earlier asked to file its reply on the findings of the NGO.

Anhad in its report titled ''The Uprooted, A Document on the State of Internally Displaced in Gujarat'' claimed that even five years after the riots, 5000 families were living in sub-human conditions in these makeshift colonies mainly in four districts of the state - Panchmahals, Sabarkantha, Dahod and Anand, and in the cities of Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

These camps were also currently functioning in Vadodara, Mehsana, Bharuch, Kheda and Ahmedabad, it said.

Meanwhile, the Commission also announced that a public hearing on grievances on relief and rehabilitation fronts will be held on April 25 for those affected from eight districts of Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, Patan, Vadodara rural and Bharuch.

UNI