Akhilesh govt orders Muzaffarnagar relief camps to shut in 3-4 days

Top bureaucrats from Uttar Pradesh visited relief camps in Muzaffarnagar on Monday to convince riot victims to go back home so that they can now be dismantled, reported NDTV.  They have allegedly asked organisers to wind up the camps within the next three or four days.

Facing flak over deaths of children at relief camps, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday shifted 420 riot victims from Loee camp in the district to vacant buildings to protect them from severe cold wave sweeping the state.

At least 420 people have been shifted from Loee relief camp, the only functional camp in Muzaffarnagar district, while efforts are being made to move remaining 63 riot victims to vacant buildings in wake of severe cold, District Magistrate Koshal Raj Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh health department, Paveen Kumar visited the Loee camp in Muzaffarnagar and four camps in Shamli to check the arrangement of medical facilities in camps.

According to a high-level committee constituted by the UP government, at least 34 children below the age of 12 years have perished in the relief camps in the Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts.

The Union home ministry has asked the state government about the number of children who have died so far at the relief camps in western Uttar Pradesh, the reasons for the deaths and the steps taken to prevent further casualties.