Report by Badal Tah, Rayagada: Residential hostels of ST, SC Development(SSD) of Govt of Odisha are increasingly turning out to be hub of deaths pertaining to minor tribal boys and girls. Be it due to suicides or manageable illness like malaria or minor sickness, the blame squarely goes to the mismanagement by District Welfare Office, Rayagada. Barring a few actions like suspension of a few teaching staff, no other stringent steps are taken to contain this catastrophe. Accountability is never fixed on higher district level monitoring authorities like District Welfare Officer(DWO) and others in the department. Unfortunately, charges on the erring staff are so feeble that their suspension are restored within a month or two.
Recently a class four tribal student named Khageswar Jhodia(10 years), s/o-Kuna Jhodia from Chandragiri UP school Kashipur was seen hanging dead from the cot stand in the hostel. Though the school authorities casually term this as suicide, the family members blame this as a cold blooded murder. They allege against the lackadaisical attitude of the Block Education Officer, Kashipur, who reached the school after a day of the incident. Though the hostel is financed by SSD deptt, neither the DWO nor the Welfare Extension Officer(WEO) of Kashipur block reached the spot nor they went to Khurigaon, the deceased boy’s village. They have also questioned the reason of bringing down the body by the school authorities in the absence of the police. “Why the class teacher did not enquire about the absence of Khageswar in the class ? Why didn’t the hostel superintendent check the hostel rooms whether any student stayed back ? If Khageswar was mentally stressed, why was not he counselled ?”, asked a villager. According to sources, the Headmistress of Chandragiri UP school is also in charge of Tikiri school, which is almost thirty kilometers away from Chandragiri. This led to serious mismanagement caused by the orders of higher authorities. Chandragiri UP school was established during pre-independence, ie, during 1946; but the condition of the school is precarious. Unfortunately this district had two tribal ministers namely Lal Bihari Himirika & Jagannath Saraka during the previous Govt.
Though Sub-divisional Police Officer(SDPO), Rayagada Rashmi Ranjan Senapati alongwith the local Police Inspector-in-Charge(IIC) Surya Kanta Nayak seized the corpse and wanted to send the body for post mortem at local Kashipur medical, the family members and the villagers of Khurigaon, to which the boy belonged, felt a foul play. So, the body was sent to Sahid Laxmana Nayak Memorial Hospital(SLNMH) at Koraput for post-mortem.
This is not the lone case of death in residential hostel. There are at least ten cases like this during last eleven months. To cite a few names of the deseased due to medical negligence are Manisha Mandangi, Chandu Kolaka, Ashok Jhodia, Jackson Mandangi, Tapaswini Piribaka, Saroj Tadingi & Manas Sabar. Shools they belonged are Ashram Vidyalaya, Danglodi, Durgapadu, Ashram Vidyalaya- Bada Raising , Govt High School, Kucheipadar, Ashram Vidyalaya- Panichatra Bhoimada, Paikapada Primary Seva Ashram, Village- Bhutudi, Bilesu Govt High School, Primary School Boys Hostel, Padmapur, etc. Earlier a primary school student named Judas Sabar from Talana UP school met with similar fate of hanging from fan in the class room as that of Khageswar. Unfortunately all these students belong the scheduled tribes(ST). Though there are departmental inquires, responsibilities are fixed upon the staff at the lower hierarchy. “The reports are not revealed even to RTI activists leading to violations and blow to the pro-people act. Suppression of facts leads to non-transparency and raises benefit of doubt. We are planning to approach the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR), New Delhi to investigate the deaths thoroughly”, said Rabindra Patakhandal, Convenor of Suchana Adhikar Manch.
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