Kissan Sangh irked that Udupi admin survey for for Endosulfan victims incomplete

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, July 18, 2015: Briefing media, Bharatiya Kissan Sangh, Udupi District General Secretary Satyanarayan Udupa said  the Kissan Sangh, Udupi District would approach District Legal Services Authority and later High Court on charges of contempt of court against district administration, which has failed to take up survey for Endosulfan victims in 62 pending villages in Udupi district, as on March 2015.    High Court had issued the decree stating that the survey to identify the endosulfan victims should be completed by March, 2015.

The district administration has not taken up survey at 62 villages. The district administration, has, in response, submitted before the Court that there are 2,156 victims in 76 villages.   However, out of 76 villages, residents of six villages are not examined. If inquired, the villagers are told that their villages do not come under the areas that are considered for survey.   There is mandatory requirement to examine the villagers residing in a radius of 15-20 kilometers where the endosulfan spray was sprinkled, the district administration has failed to do so.

He added, the survey taken up by the health department in the district, was made in 74 villages in the district which includes 51 villages in Kundapur, 19 in Udupi and 4 in Karkala. Apart from these villages, only 14 extra villages are considered, which includes ten in Karkala, two in Kundapura and two in Udupi. However there are another 62 villages that come within the radius of prescribed limits which has  endosulfan victims.

Asserting that it is disheartening to observe that the identified victims list comprises of 210 children below ten years of age and 80 children below five, Udupa alleged that district administration has failed to take any precautionary measure to curtail the effect of the spray.

He alleged that the 1,317 victims who are identified are not paid monthly pension regularly. Sadly as many as 32 disabled in Kundapur are rejected for the benefits asserting that they are born before 1980.

He said the people can also suffer from skin cancer, epilepsy, mental illness and other side effects. He alleged that although the health department should pay Rs 30386785 as pension for the 1,317 victims for 13 months, the submission by the department shows that the amount paid is Rs 30886785.

Sarcastically most of them are not paid regularly in these 13 months, he said. The five lakh access is unaccounted. The Chief Secretary of the Health department had submitted self affidavit to the High Court submitting that the victims are paid pension regularly.

He said the government is not into any scanning facilities for the pregnant women in the region during their 19th or 20 weeks of pregnancy, as per the High Court order. If the fetus shows the abnormalities, the woman should be aborted as per the order. There is no rehabilitation center and day care center for the victims in the district. He said the lower and lower middle class are affected.

The High Court in the final judgment has assigned the Legal Service Authority as the redressal authority to receive the grievances. He added that if the issue remains unsolved at district level, the Sangha would approach High Court demanding justice.