The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recently asked the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to address the plight of hundreds of tribal villagers in a tribal cluster in Kendrapada district who have been suffering immensely due to Government apathy. The apex rights watchdog passed the order acting on a petition by Supreme Court lawyer and activist Radhakanta Tripathy. Pathargada Mundasahi under Shyamsundarpur village in Kendrapara block, located barely five km from the district headquarters, lacks basic amenities. Not only does the village lack a proper road and electricity connection but drinking water facility is a mirage for these ill fated tribal inhabitants. The people live in dark ages as there is no electricity connection to the village, the petitioner contended.
Over 100 people live in the village who are STs. They are illiterate and BPl families. The village was developed in 1960s after the tribals migrated from Keonjhar district for engagement in construction of NH-5(A). later, their names were enrolled in voter list of the district and also some of the villagers have got BPl cards. However, though more than 50 years have passed, but they are still to get basic amenities. During rainy season, they are forced to wade through knee-deep water in agriculture fields. They umpteen times faced the wrath of the locals for walking in their farmland. Several times in past the locals restricted them from using their agriculture fields as passage, alleged petitioner Tripathy.
If a villager became sick, then the fellow villagers have to go through the agriculture field by carrying the patient in a basket and later they hire a taxi or give a call to the 108 ambulance to take the patient to the district headquarters hospital for treatment. Some of the children of the village go to nearby Mardarpur primary school and Mardarpur anganwadi center, but there they face ill-treatment by the locals for using cornfield as passage, stated Tripathy.
The failure of the Government officials, especially of the ST and SC Development Department Secretary and the district administration of Kendrapara, to provide them an all-weather road and other basic amenities amounts to torture, harassment and a serious threat to their human rights, Tripathy alleged. He requested the NHRC to investigate the case by a team of experts and direct the State to ensure all the tribal villagers’ rights are protected.