annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Jharkhand
her land as sand and stone chips were
being thrown at her land and crops.
Similarly, Parvati Marandi of Makrapahari
leased her plot to Gouri Shankar Bhagat
for five years. But her land was slowly
being occupied by one miner Panna Singh
from one side and Gauri Shankar Bagat
from another side. 38
iii. Health
The tribal areas have little access to
health care facilities. Villages like Chukru
and Bhakhari in Daltongunj, a tribal belt in
Palamau district are seriously affected by
fluorosis because of the absence of proper
drinking water facilities. The indigenous
peoples have been forced to consume
water contaminated with fluoride. In 1986,
the National Drinking Water Commission
had set up a committee to provide safe
drinking water to all fluorosis-affected
villages by 1990. A survey conducted by
Society for Environment and Social
Awareness found that 17-20 per cent of the
villagers were suffering from the disease.
A project to provide potable water to the
villages from a tank in Daltongunj was
conceived at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore. Pipes
were laid and a tank was constructed. But
before the tank could even be used to store
water, it started showing cracks in 1999.
None of the district officials cared to
complete the project. 39
The Pahariya tribe of Santhal
Parganas district is an endangered tribe. In
the absence of proper medicines and
healthcare facilities, deaths due to diseases
like malaria and kala-azar (black fever)
occur in epidemic proportions. Every year
during the summer months the deadly
black fever claims hundreds of lives.
Twelve Pahariyas died in July and August
2004 due to kalaazar at Phitkoriya village
under Rajbandh Panchayat. 40 Records also
revealed that the disease directly affected
more than 2,800 Pahariya people with 679
deaths in 2003 in Santhal Parganas. 41
iv. Extreme poverty
On 19 September 2004, the
Opposition in Jharkhand claimed that at
least 14 starvation deaths had occurred in
the districts of Dumka and Palamu within
a month. The State government blamed it
on malnutrition. 42 The Central and the state
governments have reportedly released Rs
8.8 crores as interim drought relief. But
villagers alleged that not a penny had
reached them. 43
Taking cognizance of the reported
starvation deaths in Jharkhand, the
National Human Rights Commission on 5
October 2004 asked the State government
to explain within two weeks the reasons
behind the deaths. 44
Santu Munda reportedly starved to
death at Betulkhurd village in Gola block
in Hazaribagh district in December 2003.
Acting on a petition filed by human right
activist Ranjeet Kumar Roy, the Jharkhand
High Court on 16 April 2004 served notice
to the State Welfare and Rehabilitation
Commissioner and Hazaribagh Deputy
Development Commissioner, besides the
block development officer and block
welfare officer of Gola and directed them
113