Police set fire to hundreds of huts put up by kamaiyas on land which the government says belongs to the Cotton Development Board 3 February, razing everything to the ground. Roughly 300 kamaiya families who had taken over the land as part of their drive to occupy unclaimed land lost all their meager belongings in the fire. There are 16,500 kamaiya families who were ?freed? from bondage by a government order last July. On 17 January the kamaiyas, who were living in temporary settlements, began to move out and settle on unclaimed land. Local administration has allowed some to camp along the East-West Highway until arrangements for permanent settlements are made.