NCST chairman to meet Kandhamal victims' kin today

Bhubaneswar/Phulbani: Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Rameswar Oraon will meet the family members of the persons who were killed in firing security forces during a combing operation at Gumudumaha in Kandhamal district last Friday.

Oraon, who drove straight to Phulbani after arriving at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and spent the night there, will interact with the victims' kin at Baliguda. "The family members of all the victims have been taken to Baliguda. The NCST chairman will reach Baliguda shortly," sub-collector Suranjan Pradhan said. Oraon will also hold discussion with administrative officials, he added.

The compensation announced by the state government has been delivered to their kin, the sub-collector said.

Soon after his arrival on Tuesday, Oraon, accompanied by NCST Secretary Anil Agarwal and Director RK Dubey, left for Kandhamal to take stock of the situation.

“We will inquire into the circumstances that led to the death of the tribals. We will look into certain aspects like what information the police had regarding the movement of ultras and whether this incident could have been avoided,” Oraon had told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

Oraon is scheduled to meet senior Government officers, including Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi, Director-General of Police KB Singh and Home Secretary Asit Tripathy in Bhubaneswar later today.