The condition of the primitive Juanga tribe in Odisha’s Nagada village, which had shot into the limelight after the death of 19 malnourished children three years ago, has not changed for better despite the State government claiming to have spent close to ₹24 crore in different development interventions, activists alleged.
A group of Right to Information (RTI) activists has been monitoring the situation in the Nagada village ever since the back-to-back deaths of malnourished children were extensively covered by media in 2016. The government was then forced to announce specific development initiatives to bring the 600-strong population back from extreme backwardness.
Fact-finding team
A fact-finding team led by Pradip Pradhan, an RTI activist, had recently visited Nagada and Guhisala, which comprise of six hamlets, namely, Guhiasala, Naliadaba, Upper Nagada, Majhi Nagada, Tala Nagada and Tumuni. Total population of the hamlets is 579, including 273 children.
“Odisha has been infamous for its backwardness in the country. When Nagada hit headlines for the deaths of 19 malnourished children in 2016, the government had pledged to make different development interventions to remove the blot. Now, it claims to have spent ₹24 crore, but we have not found any visible development there,” said Mr. Pradhan.
Moneys spent
According to information obtained by filing a series of RTI applications, the total amount spent for Nagada village in three years is ₹23.57 crore. An amount of ₹14.95 crore has been incurred for the construction of a 7.66 km road from Ashokjhar to Lower Nagada up to the Dhenkanal district border.
Similarly, the government spent ₹53.56 lakh on the supply of drinking water. Expenditure of ₹1.38 crore for rural housing; nearly ₹1 crore for different internal roads; ₹35 lakh for anganwadi houses; ₹2.51 lakh for mid-day meals, and ₹24.06 lakh for different school programmes, has been incurred.
“The government has claimed that self-help groups have been promoted in the village. When inquiries were made, no woman had any information on them. Electricity meters were dumped in backyards, while people continued to source their water from unhygienic sources,” Mr. Pradhan said.
The RTI activist demanded that a fresh impartial assessment on children’s health should be conducted by an independent body, so that the truth would come out.
