Odisha school boy injured during road work yet to get ex gratia money

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Malkangiri, Aug 17:

B Yakub, a 17-year old class IX student of IMST English Medium School in Malkangiri in Odisha, who had sustained severe burn injuries and lost his right hand while engaged in a road construction work on June 1 this year, had to leave a Vishakhapatnam hospital and return to his native village Korukonda in Malkangiri district on Friday, as his family was left with no money to continue staying there, reports said.

Yakub had sustained injuries when he had come in contact with a  33 KV live electric wire when he was at work on the road construction site. He had taken up the tough job reportedly to earn some money to buy his school uniform,sources said.

Doctors at the King George Government Hospital in Vishakhapatnam, where he was admitted, had to amputate his right hand to prevent the infection from the burn injury spreading further.

While the doctors at the King George Hospital  have advised Yakub’s parents to bring their son back after 10 days for a check-up and further treatment, they now have little option than to wait for the ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh announced by chief minister Naveen Patnaik  to be finally released.

Talking to the media, Yakub’s parents said although the doctors at the government hospital at Vishakhapatnam had provided free treatment and surgery of their son, they have exhausted the entire amount of Rs 20,000 provided by the district administration as they had to stay in a private house on rent for two-and-half months to take care of their child.

“Apart from the assistance amount from the district administration, we have spent all the money we had. The district administration is aware of the return of our son from Vizag, but not a single official has come to see him so far. But what is bothering us much more is that we are yet to receive the compensation announced by the chief minister”, said Yakub’s father.

People in Yakub’s village have expressed their resentment over the gross apathy of the state government that has not taken any action against the concerned doctor and the engineer of the Rural Development department who had allegedly manipulated documents to prove that the injured boy is not a minor soon after the accident.