KASARAGOD: Had the state government and Panathady grama panchayat started operation of the BUDS school they built in March 2019, endosulfan victim Reshma R and her mother Vimala Kumari would have been alive today.
This has been the general emotion of the panchayat residents ever since the shocking death of the duo on May 30. Vimala, 58, a cook with the Government High School at Chamundikunnu, allegedly strangled her daughter Reshma, 28, and died by suicide.
She worried about the future of Reshma, who had intellectual disabilities, and feared that none would care for her daughter after she died, said Vimala’s colleagues in school and the panchayat members.
“She took the extreme step two days before the reopening of her school. If the BUDS school was functional, she could have left Reshma there and picked her up after work,” said KJ James, a panchayat member.
BUDS school, which doubles up as a daycare centre for persons with intellectual disabilities, was built for Rs 1.8 crore loaned by Nabard (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) under the Endosulfan Package, said James.
Five years on, the building is being used by neighbours to dry clothes, said N Vincent, another panchayat member. James and Vincent belong to Congress. The panchayat is controlled by CPM.
Panchayat president Prasanna Prasad of the CPM blamed the previous panchayat board for not “paying attention to the BUDS school.”
The previous board was headed by CPM leader P G Mohanan from Ottamala, the home ward of Reshma and Vimala. His term ended in December 2020, nearly two years after the building work was completed.
The building still lacks power supply. Prasanna said the panchayat does not have enough funds to run the school.
“We will need the support of the Social Justice Department, Kudumbashree and the three-tier panchayat system for it. The district panchayat has hinted that it will pitch in,” she said.
‘Government constructing buildings, not running them’
James said the panchayat should have taken some initiative before the tragedy.
“The panchayat has 350 to 400 endosulfan victims. Of them, around 60 are bedridden. This is why we got the project in the first place. But we failed them,” he said.
The government is interested only in constructing buildings, not in running institutions, James alleged. Under the Endosulfan Package, the panchayat built a two-storey inpatient block at Panathady primary health centre for around Rs 4 crore in 2017.
“The block has 30 beds and an operation theatre but the government is not appointing doctors and staff,” said James. When opened in 2004, the PHC had an in-patient facility. The previous board ‘upgraded’ the PHC to a family health centre under Mission Aardram with an investment of Rs 15 lakh.
“We are told Aardram health centres cannot have inpatient facility. Are we supposed to write off an investment of Rs 4 crore for Rs 15 lakh?” he asked.
Notified as an endosulfan-affected panchayat, Panathady got an inpatient facility for its PHC as the nearest town was 44km away.
Prasanna said the board had agreed to tap its own fund and appoint two doctors and staff in the hospital to start the inpatient facility.
“For that, we need to set aside around Rs 24 lakh and it needs the clearance of the State Coordination Committee,” she said. The file is pending before the committee.
James said the government should create full-time posts in the family health centre and appoint doctors and staff instead of squeezing a panchayat that has just Rs 45 lakh as its fund.