Sitting to finalise list of endosulfan victims
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09/10/2012
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Hindu (Thiruvananthapuram)
A meeting of the Endosulfan Relief and Remediation Cell here on Tuesday decided to hold a panchayat-level sitting by health and panchayat officials by November 15 before publishing the final list of victims of the pesticide in the district. The final list is expected to clear the confusion over who all deserve to be on the list.
The decision was taken following widespread criticism raised by panchayat officials that a newly classified list was published without informing officials of the affected panchayats, officials said.
“Though the list presented at the meeting, in the presence of P. Karunakaran, MP, has the names of 4,182 victims in the district, only those who are notified under the government order can be disbursed compensation,” officials of the cell said at the meeting.
Two categories
The government order has only two categories of victims — bedridden and physically challenged — and they will be paid compensation suggested by the National Human Rights Commission. The remaining victims will be tagged under an uncategorised group, the officials said at the meeting.
The District Medical Officer, the Deputy District Medical Officer and other health officials will coordinate the sitting, and the issues will be resolved based on the clinical history of the patients.