BHUBANESWAR: A fact-finding team comprising members from the Civil Society Forum for Human Rights (CSFHR), the Odisha Right to Food Campaign (RTF) and the Jana Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) has pointed out gross negligence by the local administration which led to the starvation death of Risa Mankedia (70), a member of the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), in Ransol panchayat of Sukinda block in Jajpur district recently.
After their visit to Mankedia’s village, the team addressed a media conference here and alleged that the local panchayat officials were aware of him not getting ration due to lack of e-KYC of his ration card but the administration took no steps to prevent cancellation of his card.
“The starvation death of Mankedia exposes the dire condition of food security and social protection systems in the state. This is a glaring example of administrative negligence, systemic failure and a complete violation of rights,” said Sumeet Panda of RTF.
As per the Odisha Relief Code, if a person dies of starvation, a mandatory inquiry must be conducted by a tehsildar-level officer within 48 hours. However, this was not followed in Risa’s case. No official had visited the site even until the fact-finding team’s visit to his village, Panda added.
He said Mankedia was not included under the old age pension scheme solely due to the absence of Aadhaar card. The team comprising Gouranga Mahapatra of JSA, CSFHR member Ranjit Sutar, Sagar Sangram Raju of Committee for Legal Aid to Poor and child rights activist Mantu Das also found that around 110 families in the Mankadia settlement are largely excluded from most social welfare schemes. Not a single household in the hamlet has got MGNREGA work for the last three years while many childrens’ Aadhaar enrolments are incomplete and the houses constructed under the Mankedia Development Project have not been handed over.
The team members urged the state government to conduct an independent and impartial inquiry immediately and take strict action against those responsible for the starvation death of the tribal. The government should pay compensation to Mankedia’s family as per directions of the National Human Rights Commission, they said.