NEW DELHI: Shyama Charan Shukla, three times Congress chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said at least five persons had recently died of starvation in the tribal areas of Surguja district in the state due to the “callousness” of the slate government.

If medical steps were not taken immediately, his party, he said would demand Presidents rule in the state, In the tehsil he visited ((Ward of nagar) thousands were on the verge of dying and needed to be shifted to relief camps, he said, Five MLAs, including the former chief minister, Motilal Vora, Jhumak Lal Bhedia, Mahesh Tiwari and Kunjan went on a day’s tour to the affected areas of the tehsil after reading a report in a local daily on the starvation deaths. Shukla says the sight there was unbearable, Mothers in half dead state came waiting with their starved babies. Shukla feared these people would die any day.

The state government, he said, had brought about this condition by failing to provide relief to the people after the rains had fated in September and October. The people could manage for some months with their stored ration but it soon got depleted. The first death was that of a 60 yr. old man. Purushottam Carasia of Kogwar village, he said.

Others followed. There dead included a 10 yr. old boy, Babulal and his mother, Jaklibai. These details they got by talking to the boy’s grandfather, Ribai Panda, who had been brought to the hospital after these deaths. “The vi lagers later collected Rs, 200 for the cremation and to bring the man to the hospital.”

Naugai village, Birju Gond, 65 died after starving for three days. He died on March 4. Nang Pandu in Balangipara village also died a few days later.

Ward of nagar Tehsil has a population of over a lakh. And except a few who were well of all others faced a similar situation, There were reports of hardships being faced by people of other districts too, he said. These included Shabua, Bastar, Ragarh, Bilaspur, Raipur, Mahdla, Balaghat, Shivani, Sidhi, shehdol and Dhar.

Shukla said the government had declared only Pal Tehsils affected area. Asked why he had not been to that area, he replied, “No, we did we passed it on the way. “”In the same vein he added in areas where ration had been distributed people were not even in a condition to hold it.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1992