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Dr. D.K. Ray is the President of Voluntary
Health Association of Tripura and Secretary to the VHAI
Board The Reangs are
an ethnic tribal group in the North-East India who speak
the ‘Kobarak’ language. Some parts of south and
north Tripura surrounding the Jampui Sakantang hills
boarding Mizoram are mostly inhabited by the Reangs. The
areas adjacent to Tripura i.e. the north-western part of
Mizoram has more than 50,000 Reangs, which is about 8.5%
of Mizoram’s population.
Very recently the Reangs of Mizoram, who basically depend
on shifting (Jhum) cultivation, demanded autonomy for
areas inhabited by more than 50 thousand of their people.
This created some discontent in the Mizos who always
remain in fear of becoming a minority because of
migration from outside. In the beginning of October,
1997, some Reangs were beaten to death and their houses
and properties were burnt. According to avail able
reports, there were two reasons for the ethnic violence
(1) The demand for autonomy by the Reangs (ii) Some of
the Tripura extremists, sheltered by the Reangs of
Mizoram, killed a Mizo forest personnel which was the
immediate cause of anger and violence.
In the middle of October 1997, about 35,000 Reangs
migrated from Mizoram to Kanchanpur sub-division of North
district of Tripura. They were given shelter in some
school buildings by the Tripura government with the hope
of immediate repatriation of the migrants to their homes
in Mizoram in collaboration with the Mizoram government.
After the dialogue between the two governments, some of
the migrants were taken back by the Mizoram government
around December 1997. But immediately the repatriated
Reangs faced fresh attack and again the influx of
migrants to Tripura started again, which created a more
or less permanent problem of resettlement as the migrants
refused to go back to the area of violence. The migrants
were accommodated in 4 major camps. The Reangs
constructed the Tongs (special tribal houses) with bamboo
and thresh with meagre support from the Tripura
government. In all the four camps (Anandabazar,
Longtarai, Kashirampura, & Kheada Chara) there were
6694 families with a total population of 34,549 people,
including 5651 minors.
Ration supply
The government supply is restricted to rice
only. The quantity is fixed for an adult 450 gm. and
minor 225 gm. per day. A non-government organization
occasionally supplies some lentil and salt. A major
portion of the rice is sold in the market to purchase
other necessities.
Drinking water and
sanitation
There is no arrangement for water supply to the
camp. Very recently two ring wells are constructed in
Kashirampura camp. Some other attempts for water supply
were made after the recent outbreak of diarrhoea. But the
tribals are not habituated to drink water from ring wells
and supplies. They collect water from the small streams
at the foot of the hills. They also dig holes at the
bottom of the hills to get water. The chances of
contamination of such water is big as the tribals
defecate openly in the jungles nearby. The camps are
completely devoid of sanitation facilities. Only a few
pit latrines are found in the camps. There is no garbage
removal from the densely populated camps. The situation
is very conducive for the outbreak of an epidemic of
communicable diseases like the recent diarrhoea epidemic.
The personal hygiene of the Reangs in the camps is very
bad due to lack of water, clothing and other necessities.
Children and the women are the worst sufferers.
Health Care
The health services in the camps for over 34000
migrants was totally absent until the outbreak of the
epidemic. There was no organized medicare centre in the
camps or any preventive health care system. It was due to
the unwillingness of the state government and the central
government to take care of the poor suffering tribals who
were victims of politically motivated violence.
The massive night-blindness and other vitamin
deficiencies, anaemia, protein calorie malnutrition etc.
endanger the health of the Reangs in the camps.
Diarrhoea epidemic
An outbreak of diarrhoea epidemic from the Reang
migrant camps of Anandabazar, Longtarai, Kashiram-pura
was reported on May 27, 1998. The initial mortality rate
was very high due to lack of medical care, hygiene,
drinking water and above all the absence of health
seeking behaviour among the tribals.
Although the sub-divisional health system became involved
within 24 hours of the outbreak, as stated by the SDMO,
but it took one week for the health department to take
control of the situation. The central team from Agartala
reached 7 days after the outbreak. However, the epidemic
came under control only by 9 June 1998. 17 people died in
the surrounding locality on 14 June 1998. The situation
continues to be very grim even today.
According to the government figures, the total mortality
was about 250 but the non-governmental estimates put the
number of deaths at 350. Experts are of the opinion that
the infection was bacterial (mostly E-coli), sensitive to
tetracycline and co-trimoxazole which is sensitive to
metronidazole.
Voluntary Health Association of Tripura, with its limited
resources, helped in controlling the epidemic. It trained
some volunteers from the the camps in the prevention,
control and primary treatment of the disease. They were
supplied with ORS packets, medicines and educational
materials on diarrhoea control, health and hygiene etc.
VHAT is constantly monitoring the situation with the help
of the Reang volunteers.
Recommendations
The Reang migrants are in serious struggle for
survival in the camps. Immediate interventions for full
supply of ration through an organized camp administration
is urgent. Philanthropic agencies should come forward
with other essential supplies related to health, e.g.
clothes, beds, cooking pan and dinning plates, waste
containers, soap etc. The state government should
motivate the central government to involve in the relief
work, directly or through reputed non-governmental
organisations having experience in working with refugee
migrants. The following recommendations are made on
behalf of the Voluntary Health Association of Tripura for
the government and non-governmental organisations for
taking up relief measures on a war-footing.
- strengthen the
infrastructural support: hygienic shelter,
sufficient tube-wells, slab latrines, garbage
pits, drainage system, road to the camps etc.
- ensure minimum
balanced diet to the camp inmates.
- provide education to
the children in the camps.
- establish regular
medicare system, both curative as well as
preventive, in the camps.
- improve the health
seeking behaviour of the camp inmates.
- channel the relief
work of the government through reputed voluntary
agencies.
- initiate serious
dialogue to repatriate the migrants to their own
home land with full security and compensation for
their losses.
- train the Reang
migrants in income generation programmes so that
they will be able earn their livelihood.
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