The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Chief Secretary to personally appear before it on June 11, if the State government failed to take action on the compensation recommended by it to endosulfan victims in Kasaragod district.
The Chief Secretary is to file an action taken report on the NHRC’s recommendations before June 4, failing which he would have to appear before the Commission. The NHRC has warned that it would approach the Supreme Court for enforcement of its recommendations if the government failed to pay the compensation.
The NHRC had said that the State should pay at least Rs. 5 lakh to the next of kin of those who had died and to those who were fully bedridden or unable to move without help or mentally retarded and Rs. 3 lakh to those who have got other disabilities.
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Though the NHRC had said that the Union government should give adequate financial help to the State government, the Centre is yet to approve a proposal submitted by it.
Recently, the State government issued an order taking over liabilities of the Plantations Corporation of Kerala in this regard. It was the Corporation which undertook aerial spraying of endosulfan in its estates spreading across or adjoining a dozen villages in Kasaragod district, disregarding rules. The spraying of endosulfan, which started in the late 1970s continued till 2001.
The NHRC, which considered the issue suo moto in 2010, had given its recommendations in December 2010. Last year, the State government said in an action taken report that the payments could not be made since the assistance from the Centre was not forthcoming. More than 4,000 people have already been identified as victims eligible for relief and four-stage verification is on in the case of about 1,400 more applicants. The process includes medical examination by experts and confirmation of place of residence by Revenue Department.
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The NHRC had recommended that a panel of doctors might assess the extent of physical disability to classify the categories of victims. It had also called for a survey of other populations that might also have been affected by the use of endosulfan including in Palakkad district where there were reports of similar problems faced by villagers.
Besides, the NHRC had recommended increase in the quantum of relief, rehabilitation for victims and their families, improvement in facilities for diagnosis, treatment and therapy available at hospitals and health centres. It also suggested that at least one of the hospitals attending to the victims should be equipped and staffed to offer advanced care and all Primary Health Centres in the eleven villages, which are seriously affected, may be upgraded to Community Health Centres.