Odisha: Tribals used as vote bank but denied facilities, says Juvenile Justice Board
Bhubaneshwar: The Juvenile Justice Board of Odisha on Saturday termed the disturbing incident of a man carrying his dead daughter over his shoulder after failing to get a hearse van as 'shameful', adding that the tribals are used as vote banks by politicians during elections but are deprived of even the basic facilities, when in need.
"The case of Dana Majhi was an eye-opener. It is said that the dead body should be treated with full respect, but the government is not able to serve this purpose. Government uses tribals as vote banks to win elections; bureaucrats base their policies on them; at the end, they are deprived of all the facilities. This is extremely shameful," said Juvenile Justice Board member Namrata Chadha.
Read: Apathy forces father to carry dead daughter on shoulder for 15 kms
Drawing parallels between the bureaucrats who get the best of facilities and the poor who are denied even the most basic needs, Chadha said an amendment in the constitution is the need of the hour.
"If a senior official gets ill, a special helicopter is arranged for him. If a minister's health is affected, the entire administration is on its feet. But, the poor are deprived of even the basic facilities. This calls for a big change in the nation and constitution," she said.
Meanwhile, former health minister Niranjan Pattnaik also slammed the state and central government for their lax attitude towards such issues, calling them 'non-serious' and 'unsympathetic.'
"Neither the central government nor state government is serious and sympathetic towards the problem of the poor. You can see this in case of Dana Manjhi. Neither the Centre nor the state government helped. In the recent case, they have taken action against some temporary employee. It shows how serious the government is. They are not bothered," Pattnaik opined.
A similar issue on the same lines as Dana Majhi came to fore where a man on Wednesday carried his dead daughter on shoulder after failing to get a hearse van.
The man, identified as Gati Dhibar, of Pechamundi village walked around 15 kilometres carrying his five-year-old daughter, who died at the Palahada Community Health Centre (CHC) in Angul.
While expressing grief over the incident, Anil Kumar Samal, the District Collector of Angul, said an explanation has been sought from the SDMO assuring that appropriate action would be taken.
"Following the incident in Palahada, the sub-collector visited the spot and spoke to the family members of the deceased. On the basis of the report, security guard and junior hospital manager has been suspended. We shall ensure nothing undignified happens with any dead body," Samal added.
