AHMEDABAD, JULY 23: The number of refugees taking shelter at the city railway station has swelled considerably, with about 100 more people from the hutments of Shardaben Phoolchand ki Chali and Chamanpura fleeing their homes on Wednesday night and joining the 300-odd people already camping there for the past two days.Today too, the authorities and ruling party members were conspicuous by their absence at the railway station. Refugees alleged that Meghaninagar police had refused to come to their aid on Wednesday night. According to Congress worker J V Momin, this happened despite Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel's assurance that they would be provided all help and safety.Manjur Ahmed, a tailor from Chamanpura area, said he came home at 9.15 pm on Wednesday night to find the place littered with stones. ``The miscreants had broken a lorry belonging to one band and had also looted six shops. I just locked my house and ran,'' Ahmed said.``We have no clothes, no toilets and we can't go back to our homes. Why can't the Government at least give us police protection to live peacefully,'' asks Rehmat Bibi. ``We went to the Meghaninagar police seeking protection, but they refused outright to do anything. There were two wooden poles lying there. They asked us to take those and protect ourselves,'' alleged Sharif Mohammad, another resident of the area.Social workers from Jamalpur are distributing bread, saag and bananas to the adults and milk to the children from a makeshift kitchen at the railway station. Many of those who fled their homes had carried their belongings and utensils, but others were still in the clothes in which they had fled. Railings of ticket counters served as clotheslines for drying rain-drenched clothes as the refugees squatted on the platform.``Ten houses and eight rickshaws have been burnt down. We want the Government to see this and then conduct an inquiry. Some compensation will have to be given to the people who have lost all their belongings,'' said Momin.
