Women were lured to Bilaspur sterilisation camp with promise of money, claims deceased's husband

The husband of a Baiga tribe woman who died after undergoing tubectomy at a government-organised sterilisation camp in Bilaspur district alleged that health workers put pressure on them and also held out a promise of money for consenting to the operation.

"Auxillary nurse-midwives and mitanins (women health workers) told the women that they will get a hefty sum of money and free medicines. But afterwards they were given just Rs 30-40, and told that rest of the money was spent on the transportation and other arrangements," alleged Buddhu Singh, whose wife Chaiti Bai was one of the 13 women who died.

By an order issued in the 1970s, Pahari Korva, Baiga, Abujhmaria, Birhor and Kamar tribes which live along the present-day Chhattisghar-Madhya Pradesh border cannot be targeted for sterilisation due to their high mortality rate.

Singh, however, told PTI today that at least 18 women of Baiga tribe from Gaurela region, around 260 km from Raipur, were operated upon at the camps. The government has claimed that only two women from the tribe underwent the surgery.

The amount that a woman who undergoes tubectomy had been increased from Rs 600 to Rs 1,400 earlier this month.

Mangli, the other Baiga woman who underwent the surgery, was being treated at a hospital in Bilaspur, said Pendra sub-divisional magistrate O P Verma. He said some other Baiga women might have been operated upon earlier, and a probe was being conducted.

The order which protects Baiga and other tribes is still in force in Kawardha, Bilapur, Korba, Mungeli, Surguja and other regions of Chhattisgarh. However, if a woman gives a written consent, the operation can be performed, but according Buddhu Singh no such consent was obtained.