Assam to rehabilitate riot victims with Central help 

Guwahati, Sep 19 : Hundreds of families living in shelter camps in western Assam's Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts for more than a decade now would be rehabilitated with financial assistance from the Centre after all efforts to provide readymade housing to them failed. 

Disclosing this at a press meet here today, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Dr Bhumidhar Barman said, ''We had wanted to provide land and assistance to build houses from the government side to these families displaced during ethnic riots. 

''But our efforts to find suitable land to re-locate them have failed. Advertisements through newspapers by the government to buy out land from owners for rehabilitating these people also did not yield result,'' he said.  

The minister said each family would now be provided with Rs 50,000 each for rehabilitation and a total of Rs 28 crore would be provided by the Central government, through the Department of North Eastern Region (DoNER), for the purpose.  

''DoNER Minister BK Handique has consented to help us out and he will himself hand over the assistance to the families very soon,'' Dr Barman added.