Udupi: The Kisan Sangh will be filing a complaint with the District Legal Services Authority over the irregularities in the release of monthly pension and relief toEndosulfan victims, said Sathyanarayan Udupa, the District General Secretary ofBharatiya Kisan Sangh. He was addressing a pressmeet in Udupi conveying the plight of Endosulfan victims struggling to receive relief measures extended by the government.
In a petition filed in the High Court of Karnataka, it was recorded that 76 villages have 2,156 Endosulfan victims. 178 victims of 6 villages have not undergone medical test, while questioned about the reason, officials say that their village is not included in the area affected by Endosulfan.
Endosulfan was sprayed in 74 villages of Udupi district (Kundapur – 51, Udupi – 19, Karkala – 4). Among 1,317 victims screened in Udupi district, 210 are children below 10 years and 80 children are of 5 years. The symptoms have also been witnessed in new born babies. The administration has failed to initiate preventive measures. The High Court in its judgement has stated that pregnant women have to be screened to prevent the birth of the baby if the woman has symptoms.
Among the 1,317 victims screened by the health department, 300 have not been receiving monthly pension. While in the remaining cases, the pension amount is deposited once in 3 or 4 months.
The plight of Endosulfan victims in Kundapur taluk is still worse. 32 victims have been rejected from the scheme as their age is above 35 years but other 55 victims whose age is above 35 years are receiving pension.
“The Department of Health and Family Welfare has recognized 1,317 Endosulfanvictims but is depositing pension for more victims than the recognized number. A total of Rs 3,03,38,100 was proposed to be deposited as monthly pension but Rs 3,08,86,785 has been deposited. 8 of the Endosulfan victims are given twice the amount of pension while some victims have not received pension for a year.”
“There is a clear directive to the Department of Health and Family Welfare to deposit the pension amount in the bank accounts of Endosulfan victims in the first week of every month but it is not effectively followed. Bus passes are also not given to the victims, who have to rely on private hospitals and Ayurvedic centers for additional treatment. The prescriptions given by the private doctors are not accepted by government hospitals. Cancer patients have not been included in the list,” he added.
B V Poojary, President of B.K.S; Treasurer Vasudev Shanbouge, Vice PresidentShankernarayan Karanth, Shrinivas Bhat, Panduranga Hegde, Asthika Shastri,Rama Rao, Bujanga Shetty, Venkatesh Hebbar, Nagappa Shetty, SeethramGaniga, Mahabala Bayari, Soorappa Bhandary, Chandrashekar Udupa,Naveenchandra Jain, Sunder Shetty, Rajeev Shetty, Madoji Rao, ChandrashekarRao and others were present.