3 years after 19 tribal kids died, NHRC notice to Odisha on lack of development

Nagada, a group of three village, was in the news in 2016 when 19 tribal children died of malnourishment and diseases prompting chief minister Naveen Patnaik to form a taskforce for the development of the area.

The National Human Rights Commission has asked the Odisha chief secretary to submit a report within four weeks following a petition by a human rights activist over allegations that a huge amount of money spent for development of primitive Juanga tribals living in a hilltop village in Jajpur district failed to bring any succour to them.

The tribals are impoverished and their staple diet is still rice and dal or rice and salt despite intervention and investment by the government, according to human rights activists. (HT PHOTO.)

The NHRC was responding to a petition by Odisha-based human rights activist Akhand alleging that despite expenditure of more than ₹22 crore on development of infrastructure of 3 villages known as Nagada on a hilltop of Jajpur district since 2016, the condition of the primitive tribals living there has not improved.

“The children are still malnourished, there is still no electricity supply to the tribal homes, no drinking water supply and road connectivity from the foothill to the hilltop is substandard,” alleged Akhand in his petition.

Nagada, a group of three village, was in the news in 2016 when 19 tribal children died of malnourishment and diseases prompting chief minister Naveen Patnaik to form a taskforce for the development of the area. Following the deaths the government built a road at a cost of ₹18 crore to connect the village to the foothills. It also provided pucca houses to each of the 61 Juang families living in Nagada, built Anganwadi centres, dug wells and started medical check-ups and vaccinations for children and pregnant women.

However, Akhand and other activists during their visit to Nagada in June this year found that there has been little development despite all the promises. “Almost all children within the age group of 3 to 4 years are malnourished. All of them are illiterate and could not understand Odia language. There is neither any Anganwadi Centre nor primary school in the village. The tribals are impoverished and their staple diet is still rice and dal or rice and salt despite intervention and investment by the government,” the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner alleged that within the last 3 years ₹88 lakh was sanctioned under NREGA to provide employment to the people of which ₹4 lakh could be spent. Similarly, a bus under the Biju Gaan Gadi yojana was started between Nagada and the nearby town of Sukinda. But after a few days it was stopped and tribals now have to spend ₹80 on auto fare for getting 25 kg of PDS rice at ₹25 from the gram panchayat office.

Nagada tribal Binod Pradhan alleged that despite promise there has been no provision of piped water supply to them. “The plastic pipes are lying unused. We are still collecting water from the stream for drinking,” said Pradhan.

District collector Ranjan Das and chief secretary Asit Tripathy did not respond to text messages and calls for a comment on the NHRC notice.

The NHRC has said if the state government does not respond within the stipulated time, it will be forced to invoke coercive process under Section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 for personal appearance of the chief secretary and other officials.