The NHRC special rapporteur interacts with the inmates of Rinpas. Picture by Ashok Karan

Ranchi, March 31: A pro-active National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) special rapporteur Chaman Lal inspected the wards and facilities of the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (Rinpas) today.

Lal took a serious note of the ?irrationally low payments? of the mentally-challenged patients. The institution promotes and encourages the patients to work in its many workshops and fields as a part of the treatment process.

The NHRC?s special rapporteur also noticed that many inmates with criminal backgrounds lodged in the prison cell of the institute are not being taken to stand for trials, even though they have been declared fit by the medical board of the institute.

Lal inspected the wards of the institute for about five hours. The commission monitors mental asylums in Ranchi, Agra and Gwalior annually, according to a Supreme Court directive of 1997.

Lal also highlighted the disturbing fact that patients were being paid as low as Rs 2 daily for working in the farmhouse run by the institution. Unimpressed by the explanations given by the officials of the institution ? that there is shortage of funds ? Lal said this is not expected from a premier institution like this.

Lal was critical of the fact that most of the inmates were not aware of the account into which their money was deposited. ?Pay between Rs 10 and Rs 20. Even this amount is low and below the minimum wage guaranteed by the labour laws. But you cannot think in terms of profit and loss while dealing with such delicate cases. Also ensure that you open bank accounts and provide them a passbook. You should make them aware of the amount they have earned,? Lal directed. The special rapporteur said he would ask the commission to intervene in the matter.

In what can add ?seriousness? to the matter the NHRC chairman, A.S. Anand, who had visited the institute campus last year, had objected to the inmates being paid paltry sums for a full day?s work. The issue, apparently, has not been resolved the period of one year.

The institute authorities cite shortage of funds on account of Bihar government not paying the institution, even though the state?s patients comprise a major chunk of its total strength of 407. Bihar owes Rs 28 crore to Rinpas, as of date.

?We have our problems. There is of course a shortage of funds. The activities in which we employ our patients are not exactly commercial. So we have to set aside a part of our funds meant for other purposes for distribution as wages to the patients. Even we find them underpaid but then it?s difficult,? a Rinpas official said.

Lal called upon the psychiatric social workers and nurses, urging them to perform their duties well. ?We need to teach them skills, and every effort should be made to bring them into the mainstream,? he said.