Prafulla Das
| It seeks status report on implementation of welfare schemes |
The commission's two-day camp sitting concludes
The panel discusses various issues with officials
BHUBANESWAR: The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the prevalence of poverty, food scarcity and malnutrition in Orissa's backward Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) region, and directed the State government to effectively coordinate and implement various schemes for the region.
The commission also directed the State government to place before it a status report on the implementation of its recommendations about welfare schemes, including public distribution system, health and special security schemes. Addressing a press conference at the end of a two-day camp sitting here, its Chairperson Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and members Justice B.C. Patel, Satyabrata Pal and P.C. Sharma said they heard a number of complaints about alleged farmer suicides, alleged starvation deaths, vacant posts of doctors and teachers in the KBK region.
They were unanimous in their view that there was strong evidence of malnutrition in KBK region despite implementation of a series of welfare schemes under the Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for the eight KBK districts such as Malkangiri, Koraput, Nawarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir and Sonepur.
The commission, which discussed the issues of poverty, unemployment, deprivation, hunger, starvation and malnutrition in the KBK region in a separate session with officials of the State government , expressed serious concern on the food security of the poor people who had been left out of the BPL (below poverty line) list.
Ration cards
The commission also directed the State government to send a detailed report on the issue of bogus ration cards in the KBK region and action taken against corrupt officials. The commission, which has been monitoring the situation in the KBK region for the past several years, would continue to do so in the days to come, they said. Giving details of a specific case, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said they had sought explanation from the Health and Family Welfare Department of the State government about vacant posts of doctors in the KBK region.
Apart from dealing with cases from the KBK region, the commission also heard a series of cases from other parts of the State, including some relating to custodial deaths and violation of human rights of those displaced by different industries including that of Tata, Vedanta and POSCO.
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