AGARTALA, APRIL 4, 2020:
A 2-year-old Child, Risa Debbarma, died of starvation at a remote of tribal dominated villa of Tripura. The death of the 2-year-old is the first of it's kind since the centre imposed the 21-day lockdown in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The incident took place on March 28 when Risa breathed her last at her reidence at Samrucheraa town under Jamtailbari ADC Village. Her parents, unfortunately, couldn't safe her life as they couldn't procure ration, they have admitted.
The incident, it can be argued, has exposed the government's failure in reaching out to the remoter areas with its government welfare package declared in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, Risa's dad Nripendra Debbarma, who is a firewood collector accused the government and the nearby authorities of neglinence.
The child's father, in the wake of the lockdown, was reportedly forced to stay at home and their paltry kitchen stock ran out within a couple of days.
Addressing Inside Northeast, Nripendra said that they don't had nothing to feed the child for quite a long time. Also, when after repeated attempts no one turn up for help, Nripendra and his wife Phulan resorted to eat "Boheda". The fruit is being locally used to get fed instead of carbohydrate.
However, in spite of the fact that Nripendra and his wife survived, their child reportedly could not digest the fruit.
According to Doctors' report, the 2-year-old girl died after a spell of continued vomiting and lose movement.
When asked for what good reason he was not lifting his free ration from FP shop as reported by the Chief Minister, he stated, "Except me and my mother no one is entitled to the PDS system. My wife and my children do not have Adhaar cards. Thus, the ration we get every month is not enough to feed all of our family members. But, I tried my best to contact the administration to help us in the situation, yet was unable to do so.”
Nripendra was not allowed to go to the market to sell firewood because of the lockdown, which made his life troublesome. His wife, who works at a nearby plantation, was also forced to stay at home.
When this became exposed, the civil administration swung into action and helped the family with ration and money, alongwith the promise of granting them AADHAAR cards. Representatives of political leaders also visited the family and assured help.
Meanwhile, there are 150-odd families in the locale who fear that a similar fate could come upon them if the lockdown continues beyond its stipulated time.
However, the ill-fated family has said that if they had received help a couple of days earlier, their child could have survived.
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