Odisha tribal girl Sunita blames Gajapati collector in suicide note !

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Aug 15, 2014 at 2:23 PM Updated On : Aug 17, 2014 at 12:10 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

R Udayagiri, Aug 15:

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A suicide note left behind by Sunita Raita, the tribal nursing student of Odisha who committed suicide on Wednesday morning after being denied the stipend that was due to her from the local Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) for 16 long months, has squarely blamed the collector of Gajapati district responsible for her death.

In her suicide note discovered today, Sunita, hailing from Diptinagar area of R Udayagiri block in Odisha’s Gajapati district, has also blamed the project administrator (PA) of the ITDA Gajapati for her death while making it clear that failure to get her stipend money was the reason behind her suicide, sources said.

In his response to Sunita’s suicide note, Gajapati collector Basudev Bahinipati today said arrangements had been made for release of her stipend money on receipt of the complaint. He said a probe had been ordered into the incident.

Sunita Raita, a BSc nursing student, committed suicide on August 13 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.

Sunita's suicide note — Sunita’s suicide note

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

Sunita was selected and sponsored 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.

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, Sunita ended her life on August 13.