Chamarajanagar: Where poverty, ignorance waited to strike a deadly blow
When a divine prasada turns a deadly potion, when gullible devotees consume it not knowing that they are about to die, writhing in agony and unable to breathe, faith takes a terrible beating. It happened in Hanur in Chamarajanagar where 16 people including kids have fallen prey to a few scheming minds, out to grab power and money, whatever the price they may have to pay for it. Even as cops grapple with the magnitude of the tragedy and try to unlock the dastardly plot, the horrendous incident has drawn atttention to the backwardness of Chamarajanagar district in terms of development compared to others like fairly developed Mysuru. In fact the district administration preferred Mysuru instead of Chamarajanagar for better access to treatment for 120 devotees who had consumed the prasada laced with poison at Kichuguththi Maramma temple at Sulawadi in Hanur taluk on the 14th of this month. Shilpa P. explores the backwardness of a district so close to the IT capital Bengaluru, where ironically chief ministers who should be spearheading development, feared to tread for many years apprehensive that they would lose power.
Believe it or not, Chamarajanagar has no tertiary care facilities, super specialists including intensivists, cardiologists, pulmonologists in either private or government hospitals to handle such a big emergency like the Maramma temple prasada tragedy and cater to so many patients. Though the Chamarajanagar district hospital is getting upgraded with another 500 beds, tertiary care specialists, superspecialists and a high tech laboratory have not been sanctioned, which are urgently needed. The district needs special attention because a large population here is below the poverty line (2,46,042 families are BPL card holders as per the 2016-17 records). A big chunk of people are in rural areas, living on the border of forests and within the forest areas with many of them, from backward class communities. Authorities claim it is the mindset of the people which has left them backward. But there are some like Dr H Sudarshan who founded Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra in 1981 and has set a model for sustainable tribal development with his work in the district.
And why did the Chamarajanagar administration not prefer the district for treatment of the poisoned patients? Government authorities said, “At Chamarajanagar, all 300 beds in the district hospital were full and there were only four ventilators available (two in government and two in private hospitals). The 100 bedded hospital at Kollegal was full.
''Also there were two ventilator fitted ambulances and eight ventilators available in Kollegal taluk but we had used all of them. And we had to procure eight ventilator fitted ambulances and 14 basic life support ambulances from Mysuru to shift the patients. In the best interest of patients, we had to shift all patients of the Temple tragedy to Mysuru,'' they said.
Though all doctors’ posts are filled in the district, among 1200 posts allotted to Chamarajanagar, 600 posts of paramedical staff are vacant. Among 255 sanctioned ANMs (Axilary Nurse Midwife) posts, 110 are vacant, government authorities said.
It is 20 years since Chamarajanagar was declared a district. The Dr DM Nanjundappa committee report on regional imbalance listed Chamarajanagar taluk among the backward taluks in 2002 and its implementation commenced in 2007. Though there is improvement, the temple prasada tragedy has yet again reflected the shocking backwardness of Chamarajanagar.
This year so far from April, among 8340 pregnant women, 56.39 percent ( 4703 women) are anaemic . The maternal mortality rate is 122.16 per one lakh deliveries, and the infant death rate has been 6.72 per 1000 live births. 117 kids under five years are malnourished.
This place no doubt needs needs special attention. Situated near the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, 60 km from Mysuru, it has five taluks including Chamarajanagar, Gundlupet, Kollegal, Yelandur and Hanur, five municipalities and 130 gram panchayats. As per the 2011 census, among the 10,20,791 (512231 males and 508560 females) strong population of Chamarajanagar, as many as 8,45,817 people live in rural area in 514 villages. As many as 1588 families with 10,213 people live near the border of forests in 102 hamlets. Also 1906 families with 8056 people still live within the forests in 44 hamlets. It has a large number of people from backward class communities including 259445 people who belong to Scheduled Castes and 120219 people who belong to Scheduled Tribes.
The district has few business establishments which is another point of worry. As per the 2016-17 records, it has 31 factories employing 2241,776 workers and 178 small scale industries employing 2512 people. And 83447 people depend on various enterprises including hotels, business and transport.
Chamarajanagar mainly depends on rain for water supply. The project to rejuvenate and fill lakes has been taken up only in 18 villages of which 13 are in Chamarajanagar taluk and five in Gundlupet taluk.
There is nothing much to write home about the literacy rate. As per the 2011 census it was 61.43 (male-67.93, female-54.92). As per the 2016-17 records Chamarajanagar has 414 government schools and 211 private schools, 61 PU colleges and nine government and four private degree colleges.
On the reasons for the district remaining backward, an officer said, “It is the mindset of the people which has mainly left them backward. They do not question their leaders or policies, they do not have an active motivated leadership because caste plays a vital role in choosing political leaders or accepting officers who come to the district, rather than their good leadership qualities. Superstitious beliefs run deep and they are largely practised. This year alone from April, as many as 13 child marriages have been prevented. And if there is a major fair or festival in the village, kids do not attend classes. Among the victims of the temple tragedy, 16 were children and atleast 13 of them were school going kids who had skipped classes to go to the temple. Also there are not many trained skilled workers in the district which could have encouraged industries to invest here. With good connectivity linked to National highways, there is huge scope for industries to invest. Education and training for skilled
labour is the key to progress here,” he felt.
But there are optimists like Dr H. Sudarshan, who founded Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra in 1981 and has set a model for sustainable tribal development with his work at Biligiri Ranga hills in the district. When asked how he could take people into confidence and bring about a transformation, he said, “In the 1980s, when I went there to serve as a doctor, as a first step I worked on addressing their problems. I later took up a programme to educate them. Among our first batch of six students, two are PhD holders now, including Jadeya who is now the president of our centre, and Maada who has done PhD in social work. Long term education, and active political leadership is a way for upliftment of places like Chamarajanagar. Also Organo phosphorous being the common poisoning mode even in case of farmer suicides, all the taluk hospitals should be prepared to handle such cases. To begin with, a stomach wash, IV fluids and antidotes are all that are needed. Lack of facilities cannot be an excuse,” he said.
Chamarajanagar ZP CEO Dr Harish Kumar K has set an example on how to take people of the tribal community and those from backward classes Chamarajanagar into confidence with his programmes like Haadi vasthavya and Mussanje maathu, by spending time with them and understanding their problems in order to take up developmental works.This is despite the fact that some officers consider being posted in the district a punishment.
What do politicos have to say on why the district is still backward? The MP of Chamarajanagar district Mr R Druvanarayan said, “With a large area of the district covered with forests, Chamarajanagar is a heavenly place to live in. But going by the remoteness of the villages, experts like doctors do not prefer working in rural areas. Also since it is a border district which is rain fed, not many people have shown interest in investing here for industries. But we now have 1600 hectares of land for an industrial corridor. We have direct water and power connections for it too. So we are hopeful that we will get a good number of investors which will further lead to development. Also the Chamarajanagar district hospital is getting upgraded. There was a jinx attached to Chamarajanagar that if a Chief Minister visits the district, he would lose power because of which it was neglected in terms of allocation of funds for a long time. But over the past five years, former CM Siddaramaiah has broken that jinx visiting the district a good number of times and by providing good funds too. It can be developed with better education to people and a massive awareness campaign to get rid of superstitions. In another five years, with such efforts, Chamarajanagar can be changed.”
On that fateful day on December 14, when Maramma temple devotees gasped for breath clutching their tummies, they must have wondered what they did wrong in consuming prasada handed out by priests they had always revered and respected. The rude shock the district received is enough to remind us that unless poverty and superstition are tackled at the roots, unless gullibility and ignorance give way to a mind which questions and analyses, major tragedies like this are waiting to happen in every corner of the country. What if an educated and enlightened devotee had warned his fellow beings at the temple that the foul smell from the prasada meant something was terribly wrong and they should not eat it? It’s too late to save lives already lost but we could at least make a beginning.
