Official apathy: DC, officials incur Ugrappa's wrath

'No committee formed to prevent atrocities against women, kids in Hassan'

Official apathy came to the fore during the meeting chaired by V S Ugrappa, chairman of the expert committee on preventing sexual violence against women and children, in Hassan, on Monday.

As the officials failed to provide necessary statistics and information, Ugrappa took them, including the deputy commissioner, to task.

A meeting was convened on Monday to discuss the number of incidents related to atrocity on women and children at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, attended by Ugrappa and members of the committee.

As soon as the meeting began, Ugrappa complained of space constraint in the hall, saying it shows the concern of the administration towards women and children.

Statistics

The officials received a stern rebuke for failing to produce necessary statistics. The details on literacy rate in the district given by the DDPI was not tallying with the deputy commissioner’s report. No information was available on the literacy rate of SC/ST women, Ugrappa said.

He shot questions related to the number of HIV infected people, Aids patients, the funds spent for rural health and other details, for which the officials had no answers. When the District Health Officer Dr Venkatesh tried to answer a question, a committee member warned him not to give false information as he would have to face privileged motion in the Assembly.

At one point, Ugrappa lost his cool and told the DHO, “If
I had the power, you would have been sent home immediately”.
Ugrappa said, he has already toured 20 districts in the State, but had not seen such a worst situation anywhere. “If the deputy commissioner himself is not in control of the administration, what is the condition of tahsildars and others?” he questioned.

As per the Supreme Court order, each  department has to constitute a committee to prevent atrocities against women and children, but no committee has been formed in the district, he said, for which Deputy Commissioner Umesh Kusugal agreed.

He directed the departments to constitute the committees and provided necessary suggestions at the earliest.