Endosulfan Poisoning: Rehabilitation continues to be distant dream for victims in Kerala

Endosulfan is a burning memory within each Keralite - that of a disaster rekindled at every sight of a victim from Kasaragod, the northern district of Kerala. The magnitude of the peril afflicted by endosulfan in Kasaragod’s soil is yet to be understood in totality.

Kasaragod: For most Keralites, the word Endosulfan brings back a painful memory — that of a disaster, rekindled at every sight of a victim from Kasaragod, the northern district of Kerala. The magnitude of the peril afflicted by endosulfan in Kasaragod’s soil is yet to be understood in totality.

Victims of endosulfan experience pain in each and every cell of their bodies. It was when sustenance itself became a question mark, protests started brewing up in the soil where the poison had rained down. Endosulfan victims with serious physical disabilities, cancer and mental ailments continue to live in Kasaragod.

Kasaragod has been demanding to design and implement schemes to rehabilitate those suffering in misery, far from the ambit of medications. The mothers of children born with physical, mental and intellectual disabilities cannot stay away from their children even for a moment.

These mothers live in pain, forsaking their own health and other issues, relying only on the Government’s pension.

The idea of a rehabilitation village came up to provide an opportunity for these mothers to work, even while taking care of their children. The land was acquired and the foundation stone was laid to initiate the construction works for the village. However, the rehabilitation village remains in papers, even today.

The interventions made by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) amid the victims of Kasaragod had shed some light. The Supreme Court had also ruled in favour of the people who suffer.

Though a compensation package was designed based on the intensity of the ailments and the medical conditions, the authorities have not been able to pay compensations to all the victims yet.

As of now, 6,727 have been listed as endosulfan victims. Another 1031 victims who have been identified through the medical camps conducted in 2017 have not been included in the list so far. Of the newly identified victims, only 511 persons are getting their pensions. The identification of endosulfan victims has been possible only through medical camps.

The District Collector’s report that undeserving persons have got into the endosulfan victims list has come out in such a scenario. The victims in response say that if there are undeserving persons in the list of victims, the doctors who examined them are to be held responsible.

The medical treatment is also in a crisis. Even though the facilities and quality of medical care in Government hospitals have improved a lot, Kasaragod lacks treatment centres for neurological disorders. The people’s demand to appoint a neurologist here has fallen on deaf ears. The parents are to carry their children and travel to Mangalore in Karnataka across the border, for neurological treatments.

Many victim families do not even have a house to live in. Two of Shantha’s three children at Ambalathara in Madikkai are severely affected and suffer from different kinds of ailments. The life of this family is in a rented house. Shantha is hopeful that she would get one of the houses built at Sai Gramam for her family.

The money earned by her husband who works as a daily wage labourer would only suffice for the rent and basic expenses, as of now. It is a hardship for the family to sustain with two ailing children.

There are many such lives in different parts of Kasaragod. Some relief could be brought into their lives only through the quick and effective implementation of projects, including the Rehabilitation village for their welfare.