Mangaluru, April 27: A protest was staged in front of the DC office damning the government harassment of endosulfan-affected people, on April 27th in the city. The endosulfan victims and various organizations held a protest in front of D C office, to condemn government harassment of endosulfan-affected people, on April 27th in the city.
BJP leader Monappa Bhandary addressed the protesters and said, all the governments which had run the administration in the state has ignored endosulfan victims. Due to the government’s failure, endosulfan victims are facing major problems in daily life. The former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa provided Rs 50,000 to 231 victims as compensation and monthly pension of Rs 1,000 was also provided to them. The present state government is not eager to help these victims. The decision is taken by any government should be continued by the next government. It is the responsibility of the government, he said.
President of Endosulfan Virodhi Horata Samiti Kokkada, Sridhar Gowda said, the state government was ordered by the high court to provide monthly pension, medicine, medical check-up, a staff nurse for each rural area and bus pass etc for 7,500 endosulfan victims of the state. From December 2014, the monthly pension is not from the health department, and even the court order is not obeyed. The endosulfan victims travel daily to check whether they have received any money in their bank account, he said.
Yesterday we received a call from the health department. They said they had released the monthly pension for three months. When more than 400 people checked their account, none had received a rupee. Where did the money go?. The deputy commissioner calls for number of meetings but the promises are not fulfilled. The district-in-charge minister insists to directly contact health minister U T Khader. None addresses our concerns, he said.
The government has money to launch various programmes, schemes etc. But they do not have money to provide compensation. We are demanding our rights. Only files are moved from table to table, yet no relief has been given to the victims, he said.
Post the protest, endosulfan victims and various organizations submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.
In the protest, Kushalappa Gowda, Naveen Kulal, Dharmendra of Hindu Mahasabha were present among others.
