Maharashtra Government has miserably failed to prevent death of tribal students in ashram (residential) schools across the state due to apathy shown by officials, a PIL filed before the Bombay High Court today claimed.
This is evident from the death of 793 children in the last decade, due to snake bites, scorpion bites, fever and minor illness, said Ravindra Talpe, a resident of Nasik, who filed the PIL.
The PIL alleged that the children had died due to negligence of staff who failed to ensure that proper treatment was being given to the children in time.
The petitioner, in an affidavit, said the government had admitted in its reply before the court that it had to pay ex-gratia amount to 340 parents. However, no statement had been made by the state as to why the amount was not paid to them so far and also why there was a delay in making the payment.
The ex-gratia amount of Rs 15,000 in each case had been increased up to Rs 75,000. But even Rs 75,000 was not a sufficient sum to compensate the life of a tribal, the PIL further stated.
The government had stated that 453 parents got the ex-gratia and the rest would receive the compensation as and when funds are available, the state pleader informed the court.
The government also informed that in keeping with a government resolution (GR) of March 25, 1998, 372 teams of the medical personnel had been formed and 185 posts created.
However, the petitioner alleged that despite creation of such posts, many inmates of the ashram schools are still not getting any medical facilities.
The persons appointed on these posts have either not reported for work or have not performed any work after their appointment, the petition said.
