Kasaragod Collector finds discrepancies in support disbursal, requires re-examination of endosulfan victims 

Express News Service
KASARGOD: Collector D Sajith Babu really helpful a re-examination of all of the 6,727 individuals recognized by the federal government as endosulfan victims after he discovered monetary irregularities value crores of rupees within the disbursal of aids and solatium to the survivors.

The findings are a part of a report he submitted to the Department of Social Justice on July 24, 2020. The report was made public on Friday by Kerala Agricultural University’s professor Ok M Sreekumar, a vocal denialist of the endosulfan-triggered catastrophe.

At the tip of his 73-page report, Sajith Babu made 4 suggestions. He requested the federal government to formulate standards to determine endosulfan-affected sufferers, and re-examine all of the 6,727 sufferers now on the checklist.

He requested the federal government to take steps to take away unmerited individuals from the checklist.

He additionally requested the federal government to deploy ICDS supervisors to gather one-time information on all endosulfan by visiting their homes, after which assign Anganwadi employees to go to the homes and submit a standing report each month.

Social activists welcomed the collector’s choice to weed out undeserving individuals from the checklist of endosulfan sufferers however condemned the suggestions to re-examine all of the 6,727 sufferers.

“The government already has a set of guidelines to identify endosulfan patients. Medical camps are conducted based on the guidelines and patients are identified after a rigorous process,” stated author Ambikasuthan Mangad. 

“A blanket call to re-examine all the patients in an attempt to scuttle the government’s welfare programmes under the cover of a few irregularities,” he stated.

Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani’s Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan stated the collector’s suggestion to re-examine all of the sufferers was according to his prejudice in opposition to endosulfan-affected households. “We get a feeling that the government posted Sajith Babu in Kasaragod with the sole objective to discredit endosulfan victims and sabotage the welfare programmes from the inside,” he stated.

To ensure, the collector in his report was essential of the officers and the medical officers who perpetrated the alleged monetary irregularities.

Beneficiaries and advantages

In his report, the collector stated that the federal government had spent Rs 285 crore on endosulfan sufferers. The cash was spent on offering free ration, shopping for and sustaining ambulances, offering medical remedy, pension, advantages for caregivers, scholarships, and waiving loans.

Of the 6,728 sufferers, 1,498 individuals had been recognized as mentally sick and 371 individuals had been recognized as bed-ridden sufferers. They are eligible for Rs 5 lakh as solatium as really helpful by the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission, free ration, pension, energy subsidy, and scholarship.

The checklist has 699 most cancers sufferers and 1,189 individuals with bodily disabilities.

They are eligible for Rs 3 lakh solatium and the opposite advantages given to mentally sick sufferers.

Depending on the sufferers’ well being, the federal government offers them a pension of Rs 2,200 or Rs 1,200 per 30 days and one other Rs 700 to the caregivers of sufferers.

Financial irregularities

In the report, the collector stated 125 households continued to obtain pension even after the endosulfan sufferers handed on. The authorities unwarrantedly paid Rs 41 lakh as pensions to those households, the report stated.

The report stated that 55 individuals within the checklist had been recognized as infertile however 28 individuals grew to become mother and father and one lady suffered a miscarriage. 

Of the 55 individuals, 26 individuals had been {couples}, and husbands and wives had been getting pensions.

Caregivers are given Rs 700 per 30 days as advantages. Rs 4.54 crore was spent on 813 beneficiaries.

However, 25 caregivers continued to obtain the Rs 700 per 30 days even after the affected person died, the report stated.

NHM workplace underneath scanner

Several endosulfan sufferers search remedies in non-public hospitals in Mangaluru and Manipal in Karnataka and the payments are footed by the state authorities.

The National Health Mission (NHM) verifies the payments earlier than clearing the quantity. However, medical payments of endosulfan sufferers value Rs 6.05 crore weren’t accessible within the workplace of the NHM, the report stated.

The report additionally stated that Rs 3.27 crore was reimbursed to Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru, the best amongst non-public hospitals.

Pariyaram Ayurveda Hospital despatched payments value Rs 2.70 crore.

More than 10 sufferers had payments value Rs 10 lakh, with one affected person elevating a invoice of Rs 31.48 lakh over a time frame. 

The report, nonetheless, didn’t specify any irregularities within the payments of the people.

Loan waivers

Bank loans value Rs 6.83 crore of two,153 sufferers had been written off by the federal government. Most of the loans had been taken from cooperative banks.

Education mortgage, Commercial loans.

There ought to be readability on the sorts of loans that could possibly be waived and ideally, solely loans taken to fulfill medical bills ought to be waived, he stated.

Dead or alive, a multi-crore query

The first medical camp to determine endosulfan sufferers was performed in 2010. But the sector officers drew up an inventory of 734 deceased individuals earlier than the primary camp and concluded they died of endosulfan-related illnesses.

Of them, 113 individuals turned up on the first camp, the report stated. The authorities had wrongly given them Rs 3.90 crore as solatium.

Also, the report stated that the typical age of males in Kerala is 72 years and ladies is 78 years. Yet, 42 deceased males above the age of 72 and 10 deceased girls had been recognized as endosulfan sufferers, and their households got Rs 1.94 crore as solatium.

The report stated households of 38 individuals who died after registering for the medical camp had been additionally given Rs 1.60 crore as solatium.

In his report, the collector named just a few individuals who requested their names be faraway from the endosulfan checklist.

He stated a lady was listed as mentally sick however cleared class X on her personal, and one other boy additionally listed as mentally sick bought a diploma in engineering and bought a job overseas.

The collector stated the medical medical doctors and officers made choices primarily based on feelings and never scientific reasoning. It was unlucky that such officers and medical doctors are nonetheless in service, he stated within the report.