Bhubaneswar, Jan. 9: The state government has failed to address health and education problems in Malkangiri district, said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Justice H.L. Dattu.

Justice Dattu said the health and education sectors in the remote, tribal-populated district, were in a shambles. "The Right to Education Act has been grossly violated in the district," he said while speaking at the inauguration of a three-day camp court of the NHRC here today. "According to the information the commission has received, as many as 72 primary schools in Malkangiri district have no infrastructure of their own," he said.

On issues such as labour migration, women trafficking and violation of the Forest Rights Act, he said that instead of making necessary arrangements such as providing adequate compensation and alternative livelihood, the state government had been displacing people on the pretext of industrialisation.

The camp court will run at the State Guest House, in which human rights violations in Odisha at different times will be analysed and deliberated upon. On the first day, three benches were formed. In the first bench, Justice Dattu heard 33 cases, while in the second bench, Justice D. Murugesan heard 35 cases. Justice S.C. Sinha heard 39 cases in the third bench. All cases were related to violation of rights of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes across the state.

Sources said the court camp's aim was expeditious hearing of human rights violation cases.

Justice Dattu said the commission was concerned about woman trafficking in Sundargarh district and starvation deaths in the undivided Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput district. He said the NHRC had received complaints of assault by Odisha police on protesters and reporters in various parts of the state. "This constitutes gross violation of the Human Rights Act," he said.

Justice Dattu said that despite awareness programmes on the Human Rights Act across the state, residents of a few districts had been deprived of facilities under the government's welfare programmes. He said the commission had received around 30,000 complaints from the state during 2015-16.

The commission, after the fire incident in Sum hospital in Bhubaneswar on October 17 last year, had taken cognisance and served a notice to the chief secretary to submit a report on it within two weeks. The NHRC had also expressed concern over the deaths of children in Malkangiri due to Japanese encephalitis. It also stated that the authorities had to be sensitive towards the need to maintain cleanliness in the affected area. "There is a need to create awareness among the villagers towards the health hazard which is related to their tradition of rearing of pigs. Vaccination of the children to protect them from the Japanese encephalitis from the next year (which is proposed by the government) will be too late," it had stated taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on the outbreak of the disease.