Seva Bharathi to run daycare centre for a month more

The contract of Mangaluru-based Seva Bharathi to run the daycare centre for endosulfan victims at Kokkada and Koila was extended for a month on Saturday.

The district administration, the District Health and Family Welfare Department, were forced to bow before the pressure of parents and caretakers of the endosulfan victims. The latter staged a protest inside the daycare centre for the victims at Kokkada in Belthangady taluk and withdrew after the District Health and Family Welfare Department Dr M Ramakrishna Rao issued a written order extending Seva Bharathi’s contract by one month.

Memorandum to DC

A week ago, parents of the victims of endosulfan poisoning from Koila in Puttur taluk had met the Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S and submitted a memorandum opposing the district administration’s decision to award the contract of running the daycare centre to Seon Ashram Trust.

The parents from Kokkada had also submitted a similar memorandum and threatened not to send their children if the charge of the centre was handed to the Trust. The parents and the Belthangady legislator Harish Poonja stalled the handing over the keys to the Trust on Friday.

The centre in Koila remained closed on Saturday.

At Kokkada, the Health Department officials – including Dr Ramakrishna Rao, Nodal Endosulfan Officer Dr Arun Kumar S B and Assistant Nodal Officer Sajuddin – attempted to convince the legislator that the contract had been awarded in a transparent manner.

‘Interests neglected’

After waiting for hours, angry parents led by Kokkada Endo Virodhi Horata Samithi convener Sridhar Gowda K staged a dharna inside the centre and shouted slogans against the Health Department for neglecting the interests of endosulfan victims. The parents also declared on staging an indefinite stir if their demands were not met.

Finally, the Health Department officials, bowing before the pressure of the parents, issued an order extending the contract by a period of one month.

Sridhar Gowda, welcoming the order, said that the day centres should be run by either the Social Welfare Department or the NGO Seva Bharathi.

Delighted

Parents rejoiced and volunteered to carry tables, chairs and other equipment to the centre that was shifted to a building in Koila on Thursday.

Poonja assured the parents that he would facilitate a meeting with the deputy commissioner at the earliest in order to arrive at a permanent solution.

U C Paulose, founder and managing trustee of the Seon Ashram Trust; and A Shakuntala, former deputy director of the Women and Child Welfare Department, were present.