Smile was writ large on the face of Honali Gohain Haloi, daughter of a couple who took part in the Assam Agitation, on Sunday when several NGOs and do-gooders extended helping hand to the family by providing them ration.
The Telegraph published the miseries her family has been going through on it April 12 edition.
The 38-year-old indigenous Assamese is a permanent resident of number 1 Selengguri in Koomsong gaon panchayat under Kakopathar block of Tinsukia district.
She has been staying in a cottage with her three children — Kajol, Divyajyoti and Tanushree — for the last 10 years. It is located just alongside National Highway 52 opposite the Kakopathar block development office.
The office is 13km from here and 36km from Tinsukia. Its distance from Guwahati is 536km.
Honali’s father Umesh Chandra Gohain and mother Damayanti took part in the Assam Agitation. Their house was set on fire and her father was brutally assaulted and later succumbed to his injuries.
“My family and I express my heartiest gratitude to The Telegraph who first responded to our call and published a report on our sufferings. Many NGOs and Good Samaritans are queuing up since this morning and providing huge ration. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. As of now I have adequate foodgrain for the coming few days. So please stock food for other needy people living in the villages and the remote areas,” Honali said on Sunday evening.
She said the Kakopathar block development officer (BDO) Achyut Sharma with other officials too visited her house and provided food.
The NGOs also provided relief to seven other poor families living in the vicinity who are landless.
Superintendent of police Anil Sharma attached to Assam Human Rights Commission also has taken serious note of the family’s suffering and talked to deputy commissioner Bhaskar Pegu to do the needful for them.
A team of three-member team from Doomdooma Press Club, headed by its secretary Manoj Dutta and assisted by senior journalist Abhijit Khataniar, visited the family on Sunday afternoon to take stock of the situation.