Churches plead access to Orissa violence victims

National church bodies in the country have demanded access to the troubled Kandhamal region of Orissa to distribute relief, which they say have been impossible due to the stringent government rules.

"We are established and credible national bodies and have every right to distribute relief to the victims of violence," Church of North India Bishop Dinesh Kumar Sahu, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), told journalists in Bhubaneswar.

The news conference which was jointly convened by the NCCI, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India expressed their grief over the authorities preventing their relief bodies from distributing aid in the affected area.

"Why is the government not allowing NGOs to carry out relief work when hundreds of people are suffering?" asked Sahu, who said that churches are ready to distribute relief to affected people irrespective of creed, in the presence of government officials.

"We never discriminate when we distribute relief to affected people," said the Rev. Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic bishops at the press conference. He noted that more than 90 percent of the 14,000 houses that the Catholic Church had built for victims of the massive tsunami in 2004 were given to Hindus.

Archbishop of Buhubaneshwar Raphael Cheenath pleaded, “The victims of recent attacks on Christians in Orissa are traumatised and deprived of basic necessities. Allow us to bring relief to them.”

“Many of the victims are huddled together in a school with hardly any basic amenities. The Local Administration has given to each family, a sari and a two cotton blankets only. Most of the victims having lost everything, are indeed suffering so much,” stated Archbishop with deep concern.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India President Cardinal Telespore Toppo has appealed to all dioceses, churches and related organizations to contribute their best for the victims of Orissa violence.