India: Thousands of low caste "untouchables" rendered homeless and bereft by the tsunami in India's southern Tamil Nadu state are being denied food, water and shelter by the upper castes in relief camps across the region.
Officials said that around 5,000 "untouchables ", known as Dalits, from the worst tsunami-hit coastal Nagapattinam district, 160 miles south of the state capital Madras, were being prevented by upper caste refugees from drinking clean water from tanks provided by relief agencies and were being pushed to the rear of food lines.
The higher caste fisher-folk, from the Meenavar community, also turned the dispossessed and illiterate Dalits - who they employed as labourers before the tsunami struck - out of night shelters, gave them only leftovers and even prevented them from using the makeshift toilets provided by the district authorities.
Of the 9,995 people killed by the tsunami in India, 7,941 were from Tamil Nadu - most of them fishermen and coastal residents of Nagapattinam district. Tens of thousands in the region were rendered homeless.
At the GVR Marriage Hall relief camp, outside Nagapattinam town, the Dalits were accused of "polluting" the fresh drinking water from tanks put up by the UN and at another nearby refugee facility were informed that the biscuits being doled out were not for them.
When the "untouchables" asked for food packets and new clothes that were being handed out they were forcibly turned away and, as punishment, forced to sleep on the road nearby as upper caste women claimed they did not "feel safe" with the Dalits around.
"There are no toilets here and they (upper castes) even prevent us from using the area which serves others as an open toilet," Dalit teenager V Vanitha said.
The tense caste stand-off had forced the district administration and non-governmental organisation (NGO) to establish alternate relief facilities for the "untouchables" at some distance from the others.
"Since the Dalits are not getting sufficient food and water we have started separate kitchens for them," said Ms R Indirani, an NGO worker. "We are also converting separate camps for them."
The authorities were also in a bind as they were channelling relief through upper castes unions and social organisations. The Dalits had none.
"Dalits are facing discrimination in all relief camps where they are present," Ms M Jayanthi, co-ordinator for the South Indian Fish-workers Society said.