National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Justice Hl Dattu on Monday said the commission has received nearly 22,000 complaints from Odisha during 2015-16.
“In the period 2015-2016 (up to 20.12.2016), the commission registered a total of 21,912 cases from Odisha. A number of these cases relate to issues concerning internal displacement, child and bonded labour, implementation and enforcement of the Forest Rights Act 2006, problems faced by farmers and agricultural labourers, trafficking in women and children, and socio-economic backwardness of the KBK districts, among others,” said Dattu while inaugurating a three-day camp court of the NHRC here.
Raising the status of health and education in tribal dominated Malkangiri district, the former Supreme Court Chief Justice said the State Government has utterly failed to address the issues of health and education sectors.
“As per the information the commission has received, 72 primary schools in Malkangiri district have no infrastructure of their own,” he pointed out.
He also raised issues like migrant labourers, women trafficking issue in Sundargarh and Forest Rights Act (FRA) and expressed grave concern over women’s trafficking in Sundargarh district and starvation deaths in the undivided KBK (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput) district.
The three-day camp court would run at the State Guest House in which human rights violations at different times in the State would be thoroughly analysed and deliberated.
On the first day of the camp court, three benches have been formed. In the first bench, Justice Dattu heard 33 cases. In the second bench, Justice D Murugesan heard 35 cases while Justice SC Sinha heard 39 cases in the third bench.
Several district Collectors, SPs were present during the hearing. Home Secretary Asit Tripathy, DGP KB Singh and many senior State Government officials attended the inaugural event.