Rs 3 lakh, house to kin of encephalitis victims in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the panchayat elections, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday played a political trick to outsmart the Opposition, Congress and BJP, by announcing Rs 3 lakh ex-gratia and a pucca house each for next of the kin of the kids who died of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri district this year.

The CM made the announcement in Malkangiri while laying foundation stones for several projects.

This is for the first time such a big amount is announced for the bereaved families who lost their near and dear ones in a certain disease.

More than one hundred children, most of them tribals, had died of Japanese Encephalitis this year.

The Opposition had attributed the whopping number of deaths to government’s failure to foresee the calamity and carry out vaccination drive in time.

The CM was under fire for not visiting the district to console the bereaved families and taking any steps to streamline the health infrastructure in the district.

While the state government had announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia for next of the kin of the deceased who died in the October 17 Sum Hospital fire accident, no compensation was given to the bereaved families of the JE victims.

The Opposition had questioned the government’s discriminatory attitude.

“When the government is providing Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to Sum Hospital fire victims, why is it not extending same benevolence to the families of the JE victims? Is it because the JE victims belong to tribal communities?” the Congress and BJP leaders had asked.

“I reviewed the situation in Malkangiri. All preventive measures have been taken. At least 96 per cent of the kids have been vaccinated and the remaining will be vaccinated in the next 3-4 days,” the CM said.