Insurgency hits Malda NGOs

Statesman News Service

MALDA, May 22: The NGOs operating in Malda have alleged that their projects were being hampered by the insurgency problem in the North-east. The Inner Wheel Club, a women’s wing of Rotary International, convened a meeting at Malda recently. Speakers at the forum pointed out how insurgency dissuaded them from executing projects that were designed for the welfare of the needy in Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam and other North-eastern states. A speaker of the club, said: “Insurgency in the North-east has hampered free movement. When out for work, we often find ourselves trapped at one place due to sudden imposition of curfew by the administration to curb insurgency.” At the forum, members of the Inner Wheel Club stressed the need to impose a check on sex identification. They discussed methods for providing special care to mothers and their babies. The district assembly of the Rotary Club of Malda Central was organised at the Malda College auditorium on 20 May, in which delegates from the seven states of North-east and from certain parts of West Bengal participated. Here, senior members shed light on the organisation’s achievements and shortcomings in the execution of its programmes and policies. Mr VS Bhandari deliberated on the organisation’s polio eradication programme in the country. He praised the pulse polio immunisation campaign taken up by district chief, Mrs Kaplana Khound, in the North-eastern region and that of Dr Sayantan in the Malda region. In a circular of the charter president of the Rotary Club Malda Central, Dr Sayantan said that in 2004, the number of wild polio cases detected in the country was 134 and in 2005, it reduced to 66. In 2006 (till 14 May) only 27 wild polio cases were detected in the country. The Lions Club will organise an immunisation programme to control typhoid on 28 May in North Bengal and Sikkim. The Lions Club of Malda will open eight booths for this immunisation programme in the district.