World News
Aid starts to flow into Assam after Indian prime minister visits region
Published: July 30, 2012
GUWAHATI, India (CNS) -- Relief began reaching violence-stricken areas of Assam state after a visiting by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh's visit to the northeast Indian state included the announcement of $54 million for relief and rehabilitation in the area affected by ethnic violence that left 60 dead and 400,000 people homeless in mid-July, the Asian church news agency UCA News reported. Catholic relief organizations were among the agencies seeking to send aid to the region for more than a week in the wake of the bloody clashes between Muslim migrants from West Bengal and Bangladesh and ethnic Bodo people. Violence erupted July 20 after four Bodo youths were killed by Muslims. The murders followed the killing of two Muslim youths earlier in July. The Catholic Bishops Conference of India in a July 26 statement said it was "deeply pained" by the "mindless violence and humanitarian crisis" that engulfed several districts in the northeastern Indian state. Singh approved payments of $3,600 to the families of each of the 60 people killed during violence along with $900 for each person injured.
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