Believe it or not the Jharkhand government has sanctioned just Rs 48 per head per day for providing food for the inmates of the government  managed old age homes (OAH) across the state.

This came to fore while inquiry by media persons after four deaths reported at OAH located  at Sabalpur In Dhanbad.

Nawshad Gaddi, who was allocated management of this OAH in end of July last year informed that he has not received payment for managing the OAH since last four months owing to Lok Sabha elections."Despite all  odds, I  am managing  all expenses for providing minimum facilities to the inmates",he added.

He said , government had sanctioned rates for different items for OAH  in 2013. The department of women, child development and social security  had allocated Rs 30,000 per month  for OAH for fooding of 25 inmates in a month. Even after a decade the rates remain the same  causing problems for us to manage things.

On deaths of inmates Gaddi,  said that they were bedridden and were being looked after by caretaker and other staff but it's unfortunate that they died.

When asked about the decade old  rates for managing OAH, Dhanbad district social welfare officer Anita  Kujur said, a request for rate revision has been sent to the state government ahead of Lok Sabha elections but still has not been cleared by the government.

Meanwhile, deputy development commissioner(DDC) Sadat Anwar informed that a report prepared by a two member committee on functioning of OAH after four deaths in two days has been submitted to deputy commissioner for necessary action.

The report  indicates that the four deaths on Dhanbad OAH were caused due to excessive heat wave conditions. Incidentally, bodies were disposed off without holding autopsy and this had  created the upror.Those who  died include Bhaskar Chakorvarti (85), Meenu Bhatttcharya (84), Yamuna Devi (85) and Bulu Chokorvorty (72).While Bulu died on Monday other three died on Tuesday .