The Opposition Congress on Wednesday recommended a series of measures, including the setting up of medical camps to treat malnourished children, create employment opportunities and supply of food grains through fair prices, to check the increasing malnutrition cases in the predominantly tribal district of Palghar in Maharashtra.
In a memorandum that he submitted to Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao after visiting Palghar district where there have reportedly been nearly 215 malnutrition deaths this year, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil attributed the unabated malnutrition deaths in the newly set up tribal district to the discontinuance of grant under the Village Child Development Centre (VCDC) scheme by the Centre.
“The main culprit in the entire episode is the stoppage of grant under the VCDC scheme which is having a killer effect and driving a large number of children into malnutrition cases,” he said.
Vikhe-Patil said that the various schemes of the Government –be it Central and or State – had not reached the end beneficiaries at all. “The recently-launched Phase-II of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Azhar scheme is far from satisfactory when it comes to implementation in the villages.
Vikhe-Patil, who visited the affected villages of Khoch and Kalambwadi in Mokhada tehsil of Palghar, met the family members of two children who died due to malnutrition. “The sufferings that this family has undergone are akin to that hundreds of tribal families have experienced in Palghar district. The families in most of the villages in Palghar district are leading a pathetic life. They neither get proper medical attention nor do they get even their food grains through fair price shops,” he said.
Among other things, the leader of the Opposition urged the Governor to impress upon the Maharashtra Government to take both short-term and long-term measures to address the malnutrition problem in Palghar district.
Vikhe-Patil said that the state government should post haste set up medical camps to treat malnourished children in village and fill up vacancies in various departments, including public health department, to combat the malnutrition problem in the district.
He said that the state government should create employment opportunities in affected village so as to prevent migration of people from the affected villages. “The state government should undertake works at the village level under the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) on a large scale,” he said.
Vikhe-Patil said that reaching food grains on time through fair price shops to each and every family would go a long way in fighting malnutrition in Palghar district.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis called on the Governor on Wednesday. At the meeting that last lasted for 45 minutes, Fadnavis is understood to have discussed various issues, including steps taken by the State government to combat malnutrition among children in Palghar district, with the Governor.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane also met the Governor separately. “It was a courtesy call,” a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.