The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notice to Odisha Chief Secretary seeking detailed report regarding the steps being taken by the government to reduce snakebite fatalities in the State.

A petition filed earlier by human rights lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy had sought NHRC’s intervention on the lack of measures on part of the government to combat the rising cases of snakebite deaths.

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The petitioner had highlighted a series of incidents of snakebite reported in hospitals, police stations, schools, Anganwadi centres, residential homes in Odisha and failure of the State Government to ensure safety and security at public places including the government offices.

Due to the Government’s lack of attention to it, more than 7,000 precious human lives were lost in the last eight years in the State, the petition noted.

Seeking replies from the authorities concerned within eight weeks, the top rights panel pointed out whether the authorities obtained opinions from the experts to minimise the incidents of the snakebites. The panel also sought replies on the awareness programmes and availability of the requisite quantity of anti-venom serum in the Public Health Centres and Community Health Centres.

The NHRC also sought to know whether monetary relief is being provided in a time bound manner to the victims/ next of kin of snakebite victims.

The snake bites, which has been declared as a ‘State Specific Disaster’ by Odisha government from 1 April, 2015, claim close to 900 human lives every year, according to officials of Special relief commissioner’s office.

It’s pertinent to note here that Odisha was the first State in the country to declare snakebite death as a State-specific disaster.