Calcutta, June 9

Hospitality has never been, a permanent virtue of human nature anu it is beginning to wear thin in India, where millions of refugees swamping the border towns arc paralysing the administration, shattering the economy and ruining the health services.

While the central Government continues to accept the never-ending stream of refugees on humanitarian grounds, the inhabitants of the border towns are now treating these hapless people as unwelcome guests and tension between Indians and refugees is increasing by the day.

The residents’ associations of several overcrowded towns have already asked the Government to dispense the refugees to camps in the hinterland; the West Bengal Government wants the millions of Bengalis to be transferred to other states; the Chief Ministers of the bordering provinces are reluctant to accept them and almost every Indian would like Mrs Gandhi to seal the border immediately.

The controversy is already being hotly debated in the Indian press. For instance, an angry reader of
The Statesman writes: "In the name of humanitarianism we have accepted a permanent liability. Are we the only nation in the world which believes in humanitarianism? We have suffered in the past because of our holier than thou postures. History is repeating itself”

Another reader echoes the same angry sentiments: "The mistake that India has always made is to receive with open arms whoever sought shelter here. Our humanitarian postures have now brought us on to the brink of disaster and as always, West Bengal is expected to bear the brunt of the burden. It is incredible that no one of our leaders can envisage the nature of an event and its probable impact on our destiny. We deserve to suffer."

Other angry Indians complain that the refugees are being settled on plots of land which local citizens had purchased.

Another reader of The Statesman who fears that refugees might be resettled near his home town of Chinsura says it will be a blunder to move the refugees front the border area unless the Government wants to be saddled with a permanent liability. "They should be kept on the border to facilitate a quick return to their country when the opportunity arises."

But this suggestion has produced a spate of angry protests from the border area. “Why shouldn’t the rest of the country share the burden of the border towns. They must be moved immediately.” demands Mr B. N. Gosh of Bangaon.

The millions of refugees swarming across the countryside are also expected to create many other social tensions. Worried officials believe that religious strife between Hindus and Muslims might break out in Calcutta if Hindu refugees, who have been persecuted by Muslims in East Bengal, enter the city with stories of atrocities.

At the same time the influx of unemployed people into the border towns has lowered labour rates and sent food prices spiralling upwards beyond the means of the ordinary man who is beginning to blame the refugees for his plight.

In other towns, the inhabitants are being struck down by the cholera epidemic, educational institutions and schools have been taken over, the health service is at a standstill and urban services have been paralysed. West Bengal can look forward to a long, hot and tense summer.