Endosulfan victims to write to NHRC

Two years since NHRC directive, only 101 got aid

The endosulfan victims in the district under the banner of the Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani has decided to send letters to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to draw its attention to their plight on the World Human Rights Day on December 10.

They would demand the commission to ensure that all deserving persons got the promised relief and rehabilitation package

The victims or their families would post letters to the NHRC from their respective localities with copies of their identity cards. The format for the letter had been drafted by the forum and handed over to the respective families in envelopes addressed to the NHRC, forum convener Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan said here on Friday.

A group of people would converge on the new bus station premises here and take out a march to the General Post Office to post the letters en masse, Mr. Kunhikrishnan said.

He said the government had deceived the victims by deciding to revise the list of victims and by omitting several deserving persons with serious ailments from the NHRC-approved list.

Rights violation

“The NHRC had in December 2010 directed the government to pay Rs.5 lakh each as compensation to the families of 2,453 victims, either dead or bed-ridden, and Rs.3 lakh each to 1,729 victims with serious ailments within eight weeks. However, the revision only ensured denial of rightful compensation to the victims by excluding many genuine cases,” he alleged.

“This is a clear case of violating the human rights as only 101 families of victims given compensation two years since the NHRC recommendation,” he said adding that each victim would write to NHRC about the indifferent attitude of the State government and district authorities concerned.

Government version

Meanwhile, Deputy Collector K. Sudheer Babu said that the as many as 101 victims in the totally bedridden category were paid Rs.1.5 lakh each as first the instalment of the Rs.5 lakh compensation, as suggested by the NHRC. “Another 1,612 victims, including physically challenged and mentally challenged persons and 54 bedridden victims, who were not paid Rs.1.5 lakh in the first phase will be paid the same by next week,” he said.

The officials said that four categories — kin of deceased, totally bedridden, mentally challenged and physically challenged — would be paid compensation initially and a decision regarding compensation to the 2,557 had been submitted before the State government.