MANGALURU: Following confusion over the running of day care centers for endosulfan victims, the centre in Koila was shut down on Saturday. Meanwhile, endosulfan victims and their parents held protest in front of the endosulfan day care centre at Kokkada. Finally, the protest ended after district health and family welfare officer (DHO) Dr Ramakrishna Rao agreed to defer the decision to hand over the day care centres to Seon Ashram of Belthangady.
It may be recalled that a delegation comprising of parents and caretakers of endosulfan victims from Kokkada had submitted a memorandum to deputy commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil on Wednesday opposing the decision to hand over the endosulfan day care centres of Kokkada and Koila to Seon Ashram.
Beltangady MLA Harish Poonja took part in the dharna at the day care centre in Kokkada and warned the officials that he will commence indefinite dharna if the centres are handed over to the agency against the will of endosulfan victims’ parents. The MLA demanded that the contract awarded to Seon Ashram be cancelled and a fresh tender should be invited. He also demanded on behalf of endosulfan victims’ parents that no changes be made to the present contract for a month.
Accordingly, the DHO agreed to postpone the decision of handing over endosulfan day care centres to Seon Ashram. “It was decided to hand over endosulfan day care centres to Seon Ashram, Gandibagilu, Belthangady from June 1. However, parents of endosulfan victims have held protest demanding that the centres should be run by Seva Bharati (Mangaluru based organization). Hence, we have decided to allow Seva Bharati to run the centres for one more month,” the DHO stated in a letter to Seva Bharati.
The term of Seva Bharati, which handled the centres from March 2017, ended on May 31. The Ashram that looks after more than 300 destitutes including mentally challenged, was the lowest among five bidders for the day care centres in the district. The tenders were floated in March.
It may be recalled that a delegation comprising of parents and caretakers of endosulfan victims from Kokkada had submitted a memorandum to deputy commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil on Wednesday opposing the decision to hand over the endosulfan day care centres of Kokkada and Koila to Seon Ashram.
Beltangady MLA Harish Poonja took part in the dharna at the day care centre in Kokkada and warned the officials that he will commence indefinite dharna if the centres are handed over to the agency against the will of endosulfan victims’ parents. The MLA demanded that the contract awarded to Seon Ashram be cancelled and a fresh tender should be invited. He also demanded on behalf of endosulfan victims’ parents that no changes be made to the present contract for a month.
Accordingly, the DHO agreed to postpone the decision of handing over endosulfan day care centres to Seon Ashram. “It was decided to hand over endosulfan day care centres to Seon Ashram, Gandibagilu, Belthangady from June 1. However, parents of endosulfan victims have held protest demanding that the centres should be run by Seva Bharati (Mangaluru based organization). Hence, we have decided to allow Seva Bharati to run the centres for one more month,” the DHO stated in a letter to Seva Bharati.
The term of Seva Bharati, which handled the centres from March 2017, ended on May 31. The Ashram that looks after more than 300 destitutes including mentally challenged, was the lowest among five bidders for the day care centres in the district. The tenders were floated in March.
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