Manipur's Displaced People Look At Makeshift Houses, But Memories Of Home Linger

In ethnic violence-hit Manipur, internally displaced people do not want to live anywhere else. They only want to return home, whether to their huts or brick and mortar ones. Though home is where the heart is, for over 50,000 internally displaced people of Manipur, the heart and home are broken.

They have been living in some 350 relief camps across the state since May 3 when ethnic violence broke out between the valley-majority Meiteis and the hill-majority Kuki tribe. Thousands of houses have been set on fired and destroyed.

The displaced people say they also miss the vistas of their neighbourhoods, local grounds, and friends.

"Our houses at the border town of Moreh were set on fire. We badly miss our homes. We also miss our local ground where we played football with our tribal friends," a boy at a relief camp in Imphal East district told NDTV. His home is some 110 km from the state capital Imphal.

Amid their hardships, the state government has increased the pace of construction of 3,000 prefabricated temporary houses, to be completed by next week.

Manipur Police Housing Corporation Ltd superintending engineer, P Brojendro Singh, who oversees the construction, said the first phase of the project is to accommodate 3,000 families. Houses have been built at Sajiwa in Imphal East district, Yaithibi Loukon Thoubal, and another at Kwakta Bishnupur.

Each camp will accommodate 200 families or 800-1,000 people. Washrooms and kitchens will have running water via overhead tanks, besides proper power supply, he said, adding each two-room shed with attached washrooms for a family costs the government Rs 5 lakh.

"These prefabricated houses will give every family a sense of privacy," the engineer said, adding construction began in June and is expected to be completed before August 15.

Many of the internally displaced people are taking shelter in schools, colleges and community halls, but they cannot stay for a longer period, Mr Singh said.

Deputy Commissioner (Imphal East) Khumanthem Diana, who looks after the construction in the district, said considering the plight of the displaced families, the government came up with the scheme to provide them with temporary shelter.

"Under the scheme, pre-fabricated houses have been constructed. The plan is to allocate two rooms along with a common toilet and bath each to each displaced family. Hence, it is a better organised and more hygienic relief camp with privacy, than the camps where they are being lodged where 100 to 200 people sleep in a big hall with hardly any washroom facilities," Ms Diana said.

Some people in relief camps, however, want to return home, though others are happy with the temporary houses, given the dire situation.

"We are happy that the state government has come up with the idea of making makeshift houses for displaced people like us. No doubt, it can't replace our homes, where we long to go back. But the temporary houses will at least give us a better space to stay," I Inakhunbi, 47, told NDTV.

She is among 800 internally displaced people living in a girls' college in Imphal East. Most of them are from the border town Moreh, which has been occupied by Kukis now, and Churachandpur district, from where all Meiteis have been forced out. They have been staying at the college since violence erupted in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur on May 3.

Another Moreh resident who is living in the camp said she wants to go home. "It has been over three months now at this relief camp. We want to return home in Moreh. We don't want to stay in the temporary shelters that the government is building for us," Yendrambam Piyainu Devi said at the relief camp in Imphal East. "Instead, the government should arrange for us to return to Moreh and provide enough security there," she added.

It is alleged the Kukis have driven out all Meiteis and people of other communities from this town in the India-Myanmar border. The Kukis, however, when asked about this, point at the retaliatory attacks on Kukis in Imphal valley after May 3.