Children at an SOS village near Guwahati. A file picture

Jan. 18: A secure future is no longer an unattainable dream for children of Alayaron Anath Ashram, an orphanage located near Debargaon in Kokrajhar.

Delhi has sanctioned Rs 2 crore under the Eklavya Scheme for the development of the orphanage. It will also provide assistance for a period of five years.

Pramila Rani Brahma, minister for welfare of plains tribes and backward classes and agriculture, described the development as “great news for the children of the ashram”.

Brahma is also the director of Alayaron, an NGO.

The lone orphanage in the Bodo belt is home to children orphaned during the Bodoland Movement and the communal riots of 1998 and 1996. It was established under the aegis of the All Bodo Women’s Welfare Federation.

The orphanage provides shelter, food and other necessities to 127 children, including 47 girls. The number of orphans in Kokrajhar and the other three districts under the Bodoland Territorial Council — Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri — has been pegged at over 1,500.

“The turbulent period of the Bodoland Movement have hit not only the present but also the future generation. Families have lost their breadwinners, leaving their children at the mercy of relatives who are not in a position to fend for themselves and their own children, leave alone others,” said Kanan Basumatary, secretary of Alayaron and the president of the women’s federation.

Birkhang Basumatary was only seven years old when militants killed his father. Having lost their mother earlier, Birkhang and his three siblings have only their poor grandparents to call their own.

Eight-year-old Dwithun Basumatary was a toddler when his father Juggu Basumatary, a resident of Baganshali under Kokrajhar police station, was taken away by the army in 1997, never to return again.

Children like Birkhang and Dwithun now stay in the orphanage, which even has a residential school upto Class IV.

Older children study in schools in the neighbourhood.

“You can see a clear picture of the Bodo movement if you hear the stories of these children. Each one of them has a heartrending story behind him or her,” said Jetuki, a social worker who voluntarily works in the orphanage.