A five-member team of Right to Food Campaign, Odisha visited Nagada village on June 8 to verify whether the funds of Rs 23.57 crore spent during 2016-19 has been properly utilised in each project by
various line departments and how the huge investment helped in checking malnutrition and ensured food security of the Juang tribals, a Primitive Tribal Group (PTG).
The team consisting of rights activists Pradip Pradhan, Sanjukta Panigarhi, Jitendra Sahu, Suryamani Mishra and Tapan Rout along with local volunteer visited the village, where 19 infant deaths had been reported on July 12, 2016, and accessed that there are no major changes in terms of health condition of the children and food security of the tribals.
Pradhan releasing the data about the visit at a Press meet here on Tuesday said the Government has failed to check malnutrition among children even after spending Rs 12,18,918 till date as children are still malnourished due to food insecurity and the tribals remain impoverished.
He also said that the Government has spent Rs 23.57 crore in three years including Rs 17 crore for construction of roads from the Ashokjhar foothill to lower Nagada, Rs 83.98 lakh for road connectivity within villages from Uppar Nagda, Majhi Magada and Tala Nagada with CC roads, Rs 1.8 crore for electrification, Rs 1.38 crore for rural housing under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana,Rs 53.56 for supply of drinking water and other programmes.
But it is proved that mere development of infrastructure like road construction, supply of electricity, construction of building would no way help strengthening the tribals’ food security and ensure their
livelihoods, he said.
Sanjukta Panigrahi said that even after the Government has spent Rs 53.56 lakh for ensuring portable safe drinking water to Nagada, it is a big failure being a complete waste of money as the project is defunct with tanks lying deserted.
The activists demanded that the State Government review all the projects undertaken in Nagada in terms of their avowed objectives and present achievements, failures and successes. A Biju Gadi (bus) must be resumed to Nagada without collection of fare from the villagers at least for one year.
They also demanded supply of PDS rice, arhar dal, oil, potato, onion and egg to each family at subsidised prices and stopping haphazard implementation of the NREGA work and continuing it throughout the year.
They strongly demanded that all the projects be thoroughly monitored by a special monitoring team comprising a former judge or a former IAS officer or a high-level officer every 15 days and present reports before the concerned authorities for action.