Lack of basic facilities for Gadchiroli tribals during monsoons: Bombay High Court seeks State response

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court recently issued notice to the Maharashtra government in a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the lack of basic facilities like health infrastructure, medicines and education in the tribal villages of Gadchiroli district, which get cut-off from surrounding areas every monsoon. (Court on its own motion vs. Union of India).Acting on a letter petition sent by NGO PATH Foundation, the Division Bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and GA Sanap ordered,"Denial of the aforestated facilities to the villagers for almost half of the year leads to serious violation of fundamental rights of the villagers who are all tribal. We, therefore, take cognizance of this petition and direct that an experienced advocate be appointed to assist the Court.".The Court appointed Advocate Renuka Sirpurkar as amicus curiae, to be assisted by Advocate I Haq..In its order, the Court noted that the matter was of great public interest, given the fact that it concerned the fundamental rights of tribals residing in remote and isolated villages such as Vengnur, Surgaon, Adangepalli, Padkotola, falling within the Gadchiroli district.These villages are surrounded by a dense forest and are situated near the water of Dina River Project. In the rainy season, the water of the Dina Dam and Kannamwar Reservoir surrounds these villages from all sides. Consequently, these villages remain completely cut-off from the rest of the world for at least five months continuously."Issues like non-availability of electricity, non-availability of water, non-availability of essential medical services, non availability of educational facilities and so on take serious turn during the period of five months and all these facilities are almost non-existent for the tribal villagers," the Court observed.It was highlighted that the villagers during this difficult time can only access the outer world through boats and that the boat ride itself is fraught with danger. Despite this fact, the State has not provided the villagers with a boat or a boatman, the Court noted..The letter petition made the following prayers:1. Roads and bridges should be built on the Kannamwar Reservoir.2. Special Healthcare Centres should be created by the State at Vengnur, Surgaon, Adengepalli and Padkotola.3. Financial assistance to afflicted patients must be provided.4. Necessary measures to prevent power outage in rainy season must be undertaken.5. Provision of a doctor should be made till the construction of the Special Healthcare Centres is completed.6. Provision of well-equipped boats with all safety equipment should be made to all villages until the construction of the bridge.7. A survey should be conducted to find out data on all women who have suffered due to lack of connectivity during their pregnancy in order to grant them compensation.8. Provision of ration with additional and necessary supplies like cooking oil, sufficient for a period of 6 months should be made to the villagers before monsoon..The letter petition was sent to the Court through Advocates Bodhi Ramteke, Vaishnav Ingole and Deepak Chatap.Advocates Zeeshan Haq, Ketki Joshi and NS Deshpande appeared for the respondents..Read order: