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NHRC asks Orissa to take relief measures

Annapurna Jha in New Delhi

In a significant move, the National Human Rights Commission has directed the Orissa government to take immediate steps for proper distribution of relief among the people affected by the super cyclone. It has also asked the state government to initiate disciplinary action against the officials who failed to discharge their professional duties in the aftermath of natural calamity.

NHRC sources told UNI that the Commission, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the devastation caused by the super cyclone, proposes to closely monitor the long-term rehabilitation programme.

It would specifically look into the provision of relief to orphaned children, destitute women and senior citizens, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other marginalised sections.

Its representative Chaman Lal has been asked to monitor the situation and place his report periodically before the NHRC for its consideration and issuance of direction.

The state government has been directed to associate Chaman Lal in the state-level monitoring committee, if any, constituted for this purpose.

The Commission has asked the state government to complete the enumeration of casualties and publish the list in each district to ensure that the dead were correctly identified and the right of compensation and other assistance of the survivors were not in anyway compromised.

To secure the right of sustenance of those below the poverty line, the Orissa government should organise a food-for-work programme and provide wages in terms of grains, the NHRC directed.

It asked for the organisation/continuation of special feeding centres for old and those incapable of physical work.

The NHRC asked the state government to collect information on all widows and senior citizens who have become homeless and destitute due to the death of earning family members in the cyclone and cover them under the National Old Age Pension Scheme.

The NHRC asked the state government to order an inquiry into the alleged delay in opening the gates of Ramel dam and non-opening of the gates of Vidyadharpur barrage on the Hathgarh dam. It has also sought a probe into the alleged non- regulation of water flow from the Hathgarh dam which had aggravated the flood situation in the Keonjahar and Bhadrak areas.

If the inquiry established any negligence on the part of the public servants concerned, then departmental action should be initiated against them and action taken report should sent to the Commission.

Regarding the transfer of the then district collectors of Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak and the chief executive officer of the Cuttack municipal committee for failing to discharge their professional duties, the NHRC has said that if the allegations were correct then it amounted to ''negligence to prevent human rights violations in terms of Section12(A) of the Protection Act, 1993''.

For this the state government should initiate appropriate departmental action against them and report it to the Commission.

The rehabilitation work undertaken must be published in the form of a 'white paper' to inform and educate the affected people of their rights to relief of different kinds, the Commission said.

An appropriate machinery for closely monitoring the expenditure relating to relief and rehabilitation should be set up. More orphanages should be opened to provide relief to children.

The Commission, which made these recommendations on the basis of reports submitted by its Secretary General N Gopalaswamy and Chaman Lal who had visited the cyclone-affected areas, observed that 23 cyclone shelters in the state provided succour to a large number of people.

However, it felt that these cyclone shelters were inadequate to meet the needs of the people and asked the state government to immediately construct 40 more such shelters.

The Orissa government should also assess the total number of shelters required in the disaster-prone areas and inform the NHRC of a phased scheme for their construction.

The Commission has recommended that, being a cyclone-prone area, Orissa should consider raising a special armed police battalion trained in the restoration of essential services like power, water, telephone communications and road links disrupted during such natural calamities.

Since the telecommunication and police wireless systems failed during the recent cyclone, the Commission suggested that the state government should request the Union home ministry for the immediate sanction of satellite communications to cover the cyclone-prone coastal districts.

UNI

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