Assam hooch tragedy, which claimed over 150 lives, also left many orphaned

Guwahati: The Assam hooch tragedy, which has claimed 155 lives across Golaghat and Jorhat districts so far, has also left many children orphaned. According to an ongoing survey undertaken by child welfare committees (CWC), 32 children across the two districts have lost both their parents to the tragedy. The number is likely to rise later before the survey is completed, officials said.
As per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, the CWC is responsible of looking into cases of children who are in need of basic care and protection. Through the survey, which began on Monday, CWC is trying to identify the total number of children who have been left orphaned by the tragedy as well as arrange for their rehabilitation and protection.

The worst affected by the crisis is the Halmira tea estate in Golaghat, where over 100 people have lost their lives after drinking spurious liquor and at least 30 children have been left orphaned, CWC officials have found.

Lukumoni Goswami, chairperson of the Golaghat CWC, told TOI, “During the ongoing survey, we have identified 30 children, in the age group of 2 to 16 years, who have lost both their parents. So far, two children — a girl and her brother — have been rehabilitated to a children’s home in Bokakhat. However, in most cases, relatives of the orphaned children have come forward and are refusing to hand them over over to the authorities.”

CWC officials said that besides relatives, local residents have also come forward and sought custody of the orphaned children in many cases. However, officials suspect that many of these relatives and local residents may have been motivated by the state government’s decision to pay a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of the deceased. “In many cases, locals and distant relatives have also shown up. But we are fearing that they may be refusing to hand over the children to the CWC just because the state government has announced the decision to offer an ex-gratia to the kin of the deceased,” official sources said.

Goswami, however, said that the CWC is taking a proactive measure to ensure that the children are well looked after. “To avoid a situation [where relatives or local residents may stake claim to the compensation amount], we have decided to open bank accounts in the names of the orphaned children. This will ensure that the money is not misused. Also, we are trying to come up with strategies to deal with cases where the orphans themselves don’t want to go a children’s home,” she added.

Meanwhile, in Jorhat’s Borholla tea estate, where the hooch tragedy also affected a large number of the tea workers, two orphans have been identified so far. Jorhat district CWC chairperson Alok Rajkhowa said, “The survey is still on and we are sure that many more such children will be found.”