Endosulfan: Chief Secretary told to take action

KASARGOD: President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have written to the Chief Secretary of the State to take action on the letter they received from the Plantation Corporation Samrakshana Samiti, Muliyar, to conduct a thorough investigation into the whole episode in which crores of rupees were spent on select people said to have suffered from exposure to endosulfan in the district.The letter from the President’s office says: “Action taken on the petition may please be communicated to the petitioner directly under intimation to us.” The letter from the Prime Minister’s office reads: “I am desired to forward herewith a letter dated 8-12-2011 received in this office from M Gangadharan Nair for appropriate action.”The Plantation Corporation Samrakshna Samithi had sent petitions to the President, Prime Minister, all Cabinet ministers and Supreme Court judges. The letter had demanded that accountability be fixed on erring public servants, officials and doctors who prepared bogus list of endosulfan victims without verifiable medical evidence and misled the public, the policy makers and the judiciary.The letter wanted the government to prove strong element of scientific integrity in all its decisions requiring scientific inputs on the endosulfan issue.