Human rights panel suggests Rs 21 lakh relief for kin of six diarrhoea victims

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, March 3

Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) today recommended a total compensation of Rs 21 lakh to the next of kin of six labourers of the Karnal grain market, who died of diarrhoea in 2018.

The commission had taken congnisance of The Tribune’s report dated September 28, 2018, that six labourers who had consumed contaminated water from the taps provided by the Market Committee, Karnal, had died within five days of contracting diarrhoea.

Lack of amenities

It is clear that due to the lack of basic amenities such as potable water, sanitation and hygienic living conditions, six deaths had occurred. — Haryana Human Rights Commission

The Secretary-cum-Executive Officer, Market Committee, Karnal, submitted before the commission that the six labourers had died due to “some unknown reasons” between September 23 and September 30 of 2018. It was claimed that the water tanks had been cleaned, vacant plots had been cleared and the Health Department had fogged the grain market area. It was added that on the demand of the labour union, a financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh from Haryana CM’s Relief Fund and Rs 50,000 from panchayat, Ananj Mandi, was provided to the dependents of the deceased labourers.

The District Surveillance Unit Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Karnal, under the Civil Surgeon, pointed out that out of 1,036 patients examined between September 25 and October 4 of 2018, 269 suffered from diarrhoea. However, it claimed that no particular cause of diarrhoea could be ascertained. It was claimed that the migrant labourers from Bihar and UP were living in unhygienic conditions.

However, Professor and Head Department of Medicine, Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, Amandeep Singh, submitted in his report that the most probable cause of the outbreak was “toxin-induced diarrhoea”.

The commission observed, “…As the basic amenities of life were not provided by the authorities, poor labourers and their family members had to suffer from various diseases, which may prove fatal, thereby violating their human rights.”

The commission observed that the primary function of market committees was to render basic services like power and water and for that, market fee was also charged.

The labourers who died were Shambhu Mehto, Rijvi Rai, Gomti Devi, Kamal Kumari, Chotu Paswan and Ashok Mehto.

The commission questioned that if water was not contaminated in or around the Market Committee, Karnal, as being argued on the behalf of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB), and the same was fit for human consumption, then how such a large number of persons (269) had suffered from diarrhoea. It added that corrective measures like cleaning of water tanks, fogging and cleaning of vacant plots happened after the deaths.