Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has again summoned the secretary of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department in connection with the deaths of some people in Kanas block of Puri district allegedly due to consumption of contaminated water from Daya river.
Based on a complaint filed by former Satyabadi MLA Ramaranjan Baliarsingh, the commission had earlier asked the principal secretaries of health, panchayati raj & drinking water and water resources departments to appear in person and clarify the position. The OHRC has also summoned the Puri district collector in this regard.
While officials from health and water resources departments and Puri collector appeared before the commission on March 3 and submitted reports, no one from the Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water department had turned up.
“It is unfortunate that none represented for Panchayati Raj & Water Department nor their Secretary is present in spite of earlier order,” the OHRC observed in the order passed by Chairperson Justice S Pujahari.
The rights panel ordered that fresh summon be issued to the Secretary of Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department in Form-13 seeking his personal appearance for non-compliance of direction and to submit the action taken report.
The panel further ordered that the summon issued to the Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Secretary be sent through the Secretary, GA department, who shall submit his service report to the Commission.
The Commission posted the matter to March 27 for further hearing.
In his complaint, Baliarsingh alleged that people from seven families in Kanas block died after consuming the contaminated water of the Daya river. “Many people died, while a few were hospitalised,” he claimed.
In December, the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) had slammed the state govt for polluting the Daya river. The CAG had noted that the Daya west irrigation canal has been virtually converted into a sewage waste drain. It stated that contaminated water was being supplied for irrigation. The CAG also pointed out that water pollution and contamination led to 42.24 lakh people being affected by acute diarrhoea, 4.63 lakh by typhoid, 12,000 by hepatitis and another 12,000 by renal diseases during 2017-22.
The Commission had asked the secretaries of the three departments and the Puri district collector to appear before it after the officials failed to submit their action taken reports on the diarrhoea deaths.