Owner of Odisha maize mill where minor boy lost hand detained

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Nabarangpur, Nov 14:

Kodinga police in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district today detained Lalan Mehta, proprietor of the maize processing mill where Debi Singh Gouda, a class V student aged about 12 years, lost his left hand on Wednesday while working in the mill to supplement the meagre income of his poor family.

Mehta, who was absconding since news broke out on the accident, was nabbed today and was being interrogated by the police till reports last came in.

The district administration had lodged an FIR against the mill owner at the Kasagumuda police station yesterday.

Debi Singh, a class V student of Pujariguda upgraded upper primary school in Ekamba panchayat under Kasagumuda block in Nabarangpur district, along with eleven of his friends, had gone to work at a maize processing mill in his village owned by one Lalan Mehta after bunking school on Wednesday to earn a daily wage of Rs 50.

While deseeding corn, Debi Singh’s left hand hadgot the sucked inside the machine leaving him critically injured.

Debi Singh was first rushed to the district headquarters hospital at Nabarangpur and was later shifted to the district hospital at Koraput.

Doctors at the Koraput have said that his condition is a little better now but his hand had to be amputated.

Labour minister Prafulla Mallick had yesterday told reporters in Bhubaneswar that an inquiry had been ordered into the tragic incident and had assured to do whatever was needed for the child.

On instructions from the State Legal Aid Cell the district sessions judge  and additional district judge visited the Koraput  district headquarters hospital on Thursday and spoke to him and his family members and inquired about his health from the doctors.

A three-member team, headed by sub-collector Parikshit Sethi, District labour officer (DLO) and an officer from childline visited Pujariguda on Thursday and discussed the issue with the family members of Debi Singh and visited the spot of the accident. The team also recorded the statement of Sarbeswar Jena, the headmaster of the school.

The district administration has paid an ex-gratia of Rs 10,000 from the district Red Cross fund apart from the Rs 5,000 granted from the chief minister’s relief fund (CMRF) to the family members of the boy.