Odisha govt apathy drives nursing student to suicide

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

R Udayagiri, Aug 13:

In yet another case of government apathy leading to the death of a student in Odisha, a B Sc nursing student committed suicide today after failing to get her stipend from a government agency.

Sunita Raita, a BSc nursing student hailing from Diptinagar in R Udayagiri, committed suicide this morning after allegedly failing to get her stipend money released from the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) despite visiting the local ITDA office repeatedly for the last 16 months.

The nursing student allegedly took the extreme step after her only hope of getting justice from the district collector was dashed.

Sunita was selected by the ITDA Gajpati district in 2013 for undertaking a course in Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM) at the Capital Academy of Nursing in Bhubaneswar, for which ITDA was to provide her a stipend.

But Sunita had to frequently visit Gajapati to get her stipend money released from the ITDA, but to no avail.

The ITDA authorities had reportedly asked her to submit some original documents of the concerned nursing college, which were duly submitted by the college authorities on August 8.

But with the nursing college authorities making it clear that she won’t be allowed to sit in the exams unless she pays her course fees, Suinta was at her wit’s end.

Her last hope was the collector. She had hoped that after airing her grievance before the collector, who was on a visit to her village on August 11, her problem would be solved. But nothing happened.

Shattered after her last hope crumbled, Suinta ended her life today.