Kendrapara: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a fresh reminder to the Chief Secretary and the Keonjhar District Magistrate to submit a report on the failure on the part of the state government to ensure health care, education, safe drinking water, all-weather roads on mine-affected villages in Keonjhar.
Acting on the petition filed by human rights activist Radhakanta T ripathy, the Apex Rights body issued such direction August 7 and sought a report latest by September 14. Tripathy submitted that Keonjhar district is one of the highest royalty paying districts of India so far as mining is concerned. But the inhabitants of the district are crying for their basic human rights due to apathy, negligence and failure of the state government and district administration in providing essential amenities. The fundamentals required to develop the quality of life in the district requires proper bottom-up planning by involving Gram Sabhas especially in the mining affected areas in the transparent utilisation of DMF and CSR funds. Tripathy further stated that the government at Centre, state, and the district administration must consider on top priority the climate and environmental emergency, and violation of human rights of the vulnerable people in the district.
Even if the collection of royalty taxes in different forms indicated one of the highest revenue sources of the state and the Centre, yet the people, especially the tribals, Scheduled Caste, and poor besides those living in rural areas live in miserable conditions. The anemic mothers and the underweight children with low life expectancy of the common man living in the district pose serious questions of human rights, he said. The rights activist alleged that the district administration of Keonjhar and the state government have failed to ensure the bare necessities of life and basic amenities to the residents of mine-affected villages in Keonjhar district despite the direction of the commission in similar cases in the past. It is averred that failure on the part of the state to ensure health care, education, safe drinking water, and all weather roads amounts to serious violation of human rights, Tripathy said. The Commission had May 19 issued a reminder to the Chief Secretary as well as the District Magistrate of Keonjhar to submit the requisite report on the matter