Heatwave deaths: Purulia officials in denial mode

He has an imminent worry. “I have to sell one bigha for the feast to mark the 12th day of my father’s death. I have no money, no work…”

“We are told we should be getting work for 100 days every year under the food-for-work programme. But we get work for hardly 10 days,” says Gurubrata Mahato, son of Amalo Mahato, who reportedly died of heatstroke on June 17.

The food-for-work programme is, at best, a non-starter in this 1,000-strong village, which has two tubewells. It also has a public well, dug 30 years back. And its upkeep has never been the administration’s priority.

“We are supposed to get Rs 62 for a day’s work under the food-for-work programme, but we hardly get Rs 40. If we are not paid, we are supposed to get 10 kg rice and Rs 2. But we rarely get even 5 kg,” says Nemai Rajwar. His father Magram Rajwar was another sunstroke victim.

The village has another problem: diarrohea. “It is nothing alarming,” says Hura BDO Ashok Paik Choudhury. Three patients have been admitted to hospital. Mercury soared past 51 degrees in the district in mid-June but the administration insists there was “no heatwave death”.

“Nobody died of sunstroke or heatwave in the state,” Purulia DM Mukul Kanti Sarkar told Express. He also denies complaints against the food-for-work programme. “The programme is running successfully and such complaints are baseless,” Sarkar said. About 20 heatwave deaths have been reported in Nimtard, Susunia, Arsha and Puncha.

Amina Bibi, 51, died of heat stroke in Nimtard, said a police official. “She was my neighbour and while venturing out in the hot sun she collapsed and died,” says local councillor Bikas Ranjan Das. “We have not recorded a single heatwave death”, repeats B.B. Patra, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Purulia.