In the Eastern borders, the refugee movement was initiated by the people belonging to the upper echelons of the society who decided first to migrate towards the city as it provided better job prospects. The bhadraloks (elites) in East Bengal chose to move to Calcutta and other major district towns of West Bengal. The educated middle class were carrying all social and cultural property from their East Bengal roots, by which they somehow could arrange first a rented house, later a home. The available vernacular secondary sources, memoirs and newspaper reports clearly states that the impact of the migration of the bhodrolok class or educated middle class were not apparently visible in the city of Calcutta, as initially they did not construct new houses, rather they either bought old houses offering them a higher price or they arranged a basa-bari (decent rented house) for them by which they somehow would lead a decent life. Some of them managed to get ‘relief’ from the Government and at least a roof immediately after their migration, but rest of the batches started staying in a makeshift arrangement in the urban areas, which led to a sort of visual change of the capital Calcutta. These refugees began a new life in this urban centre even with extreme uncertainties. The ‘real refugees’ were the lower class Hindus, who were small peasants or landless labourers from different downtrodden classes, primarily the Namasudras. They migrated to Calcutta and neighbouring muffosil towns or rural areas of West Bengal. They migrated directly to Calcutta, in hope of getting absorbed in the metropolitan socio-economic space. As the huge bulk of these refugees were entering the city through Eastern Railway, the station-platforms on this line soon became the shelter for these hapless people. A significant section of them were forced to take shelter initially in the Sealdah railway station platform. The state government of West Bengal was neither capable nor prepared to treat them with necessary support. The first step was to send the refugees to government relief camps that were built for temporary purposes. They created three types of camps named reception camps, work site camp and permanent liability camps. The reception camps in Calcutta were in proper buildings with sanitary arrangements and were more spacious with a separate cooking space. The decaying bamboo hutments with old metal roofs left by military authorities served as reception centres. Even jute godowns and aluminium pavements huts for storing grains were converted into reception camps and Permanent Liability camps (Chandmari and Rupasri Palli). The Permanent Liability camps had no separate workrooms, playground, kitchens etc. Later there were transit or colony camps in places like Ultadanga, Kasipur, Ghusuri and Babughat. But these refugees were solely dependent on the initiatives of Government, other political parties or social organisations for refuge and protection. These camps and squatter colonies were overcrowded, inhospitable and unhygienic. Always in fear of being demolished by the authorities through eviction law, these colonies consisted of basic bamboo huts and mud houses of temporal nature with no permanent toilet or sanitation facilities within the house. The migrants from East Bengal were not only pushed out of his home but remained as an unwelcomed populace in their adopted homeland.