Opposition BJP and Congress have reacted strongly over an affidavit made in the Orissa High Court in which the Jajapur district Collector has denied that the spurt in death of infants at Nagada village in the district last year was due to malnutrition.
Responding to a notice of the HC pertaining to a PIl, district Collector Ranjan Kumar Das has told the court that the deaths of all 19 children at Nagada within three months last year were due to fever. The affidavit was filed in the court on Thursday.
BJP and Congress leaders alleged that the Collector was pressurised by the ruling BJD to make such an affidavit. “Whereas the Women and Child Development Minister had last year admitted the deaths of the children due to malnutrition, how can the cCollector make such an affidavit nowIJ” they asked.
Stating that over 35 welfare schemes of both the Centre and the State Government are being implemented at Nagada, a voluntary organisation has approached the High Court for its intervention. The PIl has alleged that people of the village were deprived of basic amenities like drinking water, roads and electricity, leading to infants’ deaths.
After preliminary hearing on the petition, the court in November last year had issued notices to the Centre and the State Government, including the district Collector to file their counters in the form of affidavits.