House witnesses din over flavoured milk consumption deaths
The Chhattisgarh legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed din over the deaths of two children in Sukma district recently after consuming milk under ‘Mukhyamantri Amrut Yojana’.
Amid high pitched arguments between Treasury bench and the Opposition members, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal had to adjourn the House proceedings for five minutes.
The notice for discussion over adjournment motion on the death of tribal children after consuming flavoured milk was rejected by the Speaker.
The issue was earlier raised by leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo. The notice for adjournment motion was submitted by 37 Congress members and the first notice submitted by Congress member Bhupesh Baghel was read out in the House by the Speaker.
In the notice, Bhagel said that two tribal children named Arti Kudiyam (5) and Pramila Muccha (3) after consuming milk in an Anganwadi centre at Ketulnar Bijapur had started vomiting and died subsequently on May 31, 2016.
He claimed that the safety measures required for storing milk are not being followed and sub-standard milk under the scheme is being supplied across the State.
The State Government guarantees that Amrut milk does not get spoiled for 90 days but the reality is that the milk gets spoiled after a few days and due to its consumption lives of several kids are at risk, he said.
Mentioning about absence of cold chain, lack of cold places for storing the milk packets, he said that microbiological testing machine at CG Soya plant in Kharora is also defunct.
Replying to the notice, State Women and Child Development Minister Ramsheela Sahu said that at Ketunlar the Anganwadi workers had tasted the milk before feeding it to 10 children.
After consuming milk, the children did not display any adverse health signs and they were went home.
She categorically denied that immediately after consuming milk, the children started to vomit.
The Minister further stated that the parents of deceased children instead of taking them to a doctor went to a traditional healer (Ojha).
The post-mortem report informed that parts of vomit chocked lungs and oesophagus of the kids due to which they succumbed.
We have not received viscera report and after getting the report only then we will be able to tell the exact reason of death, she informed the House.
The Minister further informed that the other packets of milk with same batch number were tested by three different Central Government agencies who have reported that the quality of milk was good.
Dissatisfied with Minister’s answer, the Congress members started raising slogans against the Government to which BJP members also started shouting slogans against the Opposition members.
Unable to conduct business of the House amid the din, the Speaker adjourned the assembly for five minutes. After the House resumed business, he assured that discussion over the issue would be held in some other way to which Congress members agreed.