Chief Minister Raghubar Das has directed the district administration to provide Rs 1 lakh ex gratia to the family members of the girl who was killed by a bunch of stray dogs while she had gone out of her house to answer nature’s call at Bhagwatidih village under Markaccho block in Koderma on Sunday morning. Ironically, Koderma was declared as the second Open Defecation Free district in Jharkhand.
“As per the direction of the Chief Minister, cheque of Rs 1 lakh has been provided to the deceased family members along with other assistance like food grains and Rs 3000 for performing last rites,” said the Deputy Development Commissioner of Koderma Aditya Anand. He, however, said that in the preliminary investigations conducted by the officials revealed that the girl was mentally challenged and had a past history of roaming around the village whenever she got a chance to sneak away from the eyes of the family members.
“Moreover, no signs like water container in her hand or water body near the spot where incident took place, has been found during the investigations which indicates that the girl had not come out to attend nature’s call,” asserted the DDC. As far as the question of not having a toilet in their house was concerned, the family had a ‘pucca’ house hence they were not included in the baseline survey for constructing toilet under ‘Swachha Bharat Mission,’ as only poor people with ‘kutcha’ houses qualify for the same, he added.
Moreover, deceased’s grandfather was a retired government employee and her grandmother was also in job following which she used to get pension.
“Girl’s father also works as an electrician in Surat,” said the DDC. As other close relatives of the family have been provided toilets in their houses, there was no point avoiding the deceased family, if it had qualified for the same, he added.
When asked what about above poverty line families having no toilets in their houses, the DDC said that they target such families which are not capable of constructing toilets in the first phase, and later on the families capable of constructing toilets in their houses.
“It is an ongoing process which will be carried out phase wise to make Swaccha Bharat Mission successful in the State,” the DDC said.
Police said that though an attempt was made by the children passing nearby, the 12-year girl could not be saved as it was too late. later, they raised an alarm and informed the family members.
“The girl has been identified as Madhu Kumari, daughter of Umesh Singh who works as an electrician in Surat,” said Koderma SP Shivani Tiwary. Matter being quite evident, no FIR was lodged considering it an accidental case, she added.