KASARGOD: Sitting on the cold oxide floor with her face cupped between her raised knees, Muthakka Shetty, 69, was sentinelling an oil lamp flickering in memory of her younger son, Shridhar Shetty, 32. She did the same when he was alive, stayed by his bedside. After being bedridden for two years, he died on January 15. The lamp will be kept alive for 11 days, says the frail woman.
Her elder son, Kitanna Shetty, 34, is seated beside her wearing a blank look. He is paralysed from waist below.
The Shettys of Balike at Vaninagar was one of the earliest families in Enmakaje panchayat to be affected by the 20 years of aerial spraying of endosulfan on cashew plantations.
In 2000, Star TV showed visuals of Muthakka Shetty, then 53, with Kitanna on her hips, to break the news to the world that endosulfan has caused congenital deformities, physical disabilities, mental retardation and gynaecological problems to the people of Kasargod.
In 2001, Muthakka’s blood sample was among the 25 samples taken by the Centre for Science and Environment to be tested for the presence of endosulfan. In the study report released on February 21, 2001, endosulfan residues were found to be much higher in her blood.
Kitanna was born with physical disabilities. Muthakka’s eldest daughter Lakshmi “fell” into a well and died 25 years ago. She was then 22 years old. Her second daughter, Saraswati, 40, is at home. Her right arm is swollen, which she is not able to use.
Shridhar, who was seemingly a healthy child, started losing control of his muscles two years ago and soon became paralysed. He was diagnosed with dehydrated discs and compression of traversing nerve roots.
The family says the government gave the two sons Rs 1.5 lakh each as compensation. The government even paid a bill of Rs 1.40 lakh to KMC, Mangaluru, for treating Shridhar for 15 days in April 2015, said Sanjeev Shetty, a cousin, who was his caregiver then.
“But the hospital did not make any difference. When we wanted to go, it asked to remain admitted as the government was paying the bill,” he said.
Sanjeev says though there was a proposal to upgrade the Vaninagar Primary Health Centre (PHC) to a community health centre (CHC), it has never happened. “In fact, there is no regular doctors or nurses at the PHC now,” he says. Three years ago, a physiotherapist used to visit the patients at home.
“Those days, there was marked difference in Kitanna. Now even the post is not there in the PHC,” he says.
On December 30, 2010, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the upgrading of PHCs in 11 affected panchayats to CHC, but none were elevated.
Vaninagar and neighbouring Swarga have a large number of people affected by endosulfan. Three kilometres away from Shetty’s house, wheelchair-bound Harshid, 24, was found alone in his house, locked from outside. His father Shankar Mooliya, 57, a potter by profession, was working as a farm labourer in an areca grove, a few kilometres away, and his mother had gone to attend a wedding.
“Vaninagar needs a care centre. We are left with no choice,” says Mooliya, when he came home. The family has got Rs 3 lakh from the government as compensation, but the house does not even have a western toilet.
In the neighbourhood, Uday, 26, was able to stretch his hands and walk without a walker three years ago. Today, he is helpless without his mother Shailaja. “Dr Joy (the physiotherapist) made real difference to Uday. But all the gains he made are lost now,” she says.
None of the three patients — Uday, Harshid or Kitanna — are under treatment today.
“The government says its responsibility does not end with paying compensation. But here in Vaninagar, we are praying for a little bit of attention and care,” says Sanjeev Shetty.