| Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday said the malnutrition deaths in the tribal-dominated Melghat forests have been “blown out of proportion.”
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| He told the media that there was nothing serious in Melghat and out of the 1,045 deaths being attributed to malnutrition, only 59 were “genuine”.
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| The chief minister compared the infant mortality rate in Maharashtra where 46 infants die out every 1,000 born, with that of Orissa (90), Uttar Pradesh (87), Rajasthan (83), and Madhya Pradesh (60 to 70).
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| “We are much better than these states. Government infrastructure has reached villages. Roads are good. Still, malnutrition deaths should not happen,” Shinde said.
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| “As per government reports, only 59 deaths were caused by malnutrition across the state. Rest of the deaths being claimed by the opposition were caused by different reasons such as snake bite, typhoid, accidents etc,” he said.
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| Shinde said a lot of hype had been created about malnutrition deaths. “But I take it positively. It is because of that hype that I personally went to see the situation,” he said.
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| The chief minister said he talked to two mothers who had lost their infants.
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| “I asked them if anganwadi workers were visiting them or not. One of them said yes, the other said no. But both of them said their babies did not have fever for 15 days. They said the infants died hours after they caught fever. One of them said she did not visit PHC although it was there. She preferred a private hospital but her baby still died,” Shinde said.
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| This followed a four-hour visit to the area. Shinde visited three villages within a six kms radius from Dharni, a tehsil township in the Melghat region.
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| The terrible plight of Korku and Gwali tribals in the Melghat forests has been in focus following malnutrition deaths.
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| Haunting pictures of hollow-eyed, naked and wailing children with distended stomachs and bare ribcages have shaken entire Vidarbha.
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| Help has been offered by many organisations, but reaching it to far off inaccessible villages which are not connected by roads, has proved to be impossible. For the record, there are some primary health centres (PHCs), but they either lack medicines or staff. Besides, illiterate tribals still prefer going to their version of a ‘shaman’ for treatment.
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| There have also been over 20 suicides by debt-ridden farmers who have been pushed to the brink as the rain gods failed them.
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| The CM visited Kusumkot, Dabida and Baspani villages, all of which are connected with tarred roads and formed his opinion that has Congressmen anxious.
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| With assembly elections expected in September-October, Congress leaders were hoping that Shinde would be generous in offering help for the malnourished in Melghat and farmers in the Yavatmal-Bhandara belt.
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| Meanwhile, the leader of Opposition in the state legislative council, Nitin Gadkari, said Shinde’s visit to Vidarbha was sheer waste of time and money.
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| “The ruling Congress-NCP alliance has attempted to mislead people on the issue of malnutrition in Melghat and farmers suicide all over Vidarbha,” he said, dubbing Shinde’s attitude as “non-serious”.
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| “He is not at all serious about the issue. It is really unfortunate that the state government is anti-farmer and anti-tribals. The cabinet had earmarked a 13 per cent outlay of the total budgetary allocations for the 13 per cent tribals in Maharashtra. The government subsequently reduced it to a mere 1.4 per cent. This is an outrage and can only be condemned in the most severest manner,” Gadkari thundered.
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| He said, the CM’s observations were “salt on the wounds of the already cursed farmers and their families.”
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| No fresh deal for suicide-hit families
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| Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde refused to announce a fresh package for the families of farmers who have committed suicides in Vidarbha.
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| “We will give Rs. 1 lakh to the family of a farmer who commits suicide. But this help is subject to report by government officials confirming suicide caused by the given reasons,” he said.
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| He said the Nagpur and Amravati revenue divisions in Vidarbha would be given the benefit of the same set of drought-relief measures implemented in 11 drought-hit districts of western Maharashtra.
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| “Drought assessment and relief norms applied in western Maharashtra will be applied to Amravati and Nagpur divisions also,” Shinde said.
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| Asked if compensation would be given to Vidarbha farmers on the basis of crop loss per hectare, Shinde said no such decision has been taken.
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| Water from all dams in drought-hit areas would be used only for human consumption and cattle fodder till the drought-like situation persists, Shinde said. |
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