Things are now getting better with Debanti Behera of Sargimumda village of Nuapada district, after the alleged starvation death of his brother Goutam on July 8 was highlighted in media.
She was given shelter in a rehabilitation center at Komna, a ration card under Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Rs 60,000. She was also assured of appropriate treatment for her illness. "I am fine now" says Debanti, but she is still to overcome the trauma, that she and her brother underwent for long years.
"My brother used to stay overnight in front of block office at Boden to meet the concerned block officials to get an AAY card, but we did not get that when he was alive," lamented Debanti.
"This is how our administration responds to the grievance of people and tries to suppress the truth if something unwarranted happens," said Sanjaya Tiwari, a farmer leader of Khariar.
He added that there should be an audit of the monthly grievance conducted by the district Collectors across the State to assess how much of the grievances are really addressed and accountability be fixed for not addressing genuine concerns of the people.
"In the case of Goutam's death what the administration did now, it could have done earlier when he was alive. There are many provisions like inclusion in AAY, issue of GR card or shifting the destitute to any rehabilitation shelter etc. The administration did not make use of these provisions and hurried to cover up its fault adopting dubious means," said scribe Tapan Dash.
The first illegality done by the officials was to deny a postmortem of the body in contravention of rules laid down in the Odisha Relief Code. The second was to withdraw the AAY and replacing that with another. It was to prove that the administration had issued the card and rice before the death of Goutam.
Third fault was to motivate the relatives of Debanti to change their statements on the cause of death and how they lived, Dash told further.
"Accountability should be fixed with those who adopted such dubious strategies to save their skin after neglecting the basic needs of the siblings for several months and exemplary action should be taken against them," added Dash.
The administration had submitted a report as a response to a query by the CM Office on the death of Goutam denying all complaints of negligence.
However, it is learnt that the CM Office, basing on the factual report published in The Pioneer, sent a consultant for a detailed inquiry.
The report of the consultant was not made public but it is learnt from people with whom he discussed during his visit to the district including Debanti, that the consultant had been appraised of the reality. Now all eyes are on what steps the CM Office will be taking.