Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Monday took strong exception to the tragic suicide of nursing student Sunita Raita and said he would seek a detailed report from the Odisha Government vis-à-vis the incident soon.
Notably, Raita, a BSc nursing student of R Udayagiri in Gajapati district, had hanged herself on August 13 after being denied stipend by the local Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) for 16 long months.
“Why the stipend was not given to Sunita in timeIJ Where was the delayIJ What action the State Government has taken against the erring officials and the ones whom the deceased had blamed for non-release of stipend before her suicideIJ” Oram raised these questions while interacting with mediapersons here.
The Union Minister came down heavily on the gross inaction of the State Government in providing Centre-sanctioned stipends and scholarships to the tribal students on time.
“Due to the dilly-dallying attitude of officials of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), tribal students are waiting a very long time to get stipends and other dues,” he said. Oram said his Ministry is also aware of the two other incidents in which two students Banita Naik and Kanakdei Bhatra ended their lives after failing to meet their study expenses.
“I had reviewed the implementation of ongoing tribal welfare programmes in the State recently and found scores of irregularities. My Ministry would seek a detailed report from the State Government on the inordinate delay in releasing stipend,” he informed.
He further said that he would take necessary steps to ensure that such unfortunate incidents don’t occur in future. He said he has already asked the State Government to expedite the release of pending stipends to the eligible students without further delay.