Attapady tribal children deaths: Petition admitted

Kerala High Court today admitted a petition, seeking a direction to the state government to constitute a commission of enquiry to probe into the cause of recent deaths of tribal children due to malnutrition in Attapady in Palakkad district.
The Public Interest Litigation was filed by Rights, a Thiruvananthapuram based NGO complaining that the deaths of tribal children was frequent and long-term measures were requited to address this crisis.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Vinod Chandran admitted the petition and directed government to file a counter affidavit.
The petitioner and other organisations had been representing to the government over the issue faced by the children, it was submitted. But there is a 'total collapse' of governance structure in dealing with the issue.

Though certain packages were announced to address this crisis, it does not address the core issue in its entirety. The situation in Attapady was worsening as there are still more severe malnourished tribal children and 536 pregnant tribal women, of which 90 per cent are anaemic in the region making the situation alarming,the petitioner submitted.
The petitioner also sought a direction to the government to award compensation to the tribal families who lost their children due to malnutrition.