A man in Jharkhand passed away on July 17 allegedly due to starvation. Jhingur Bhiuyan, a man in his 40s from Dodagadha village in Chatra district, reportedly starved for over 10 days before finally breathing his last.
However, Rajwanti Devi, the village head claims that the man died because he was unemployed.
Alleged Starvation Death, Again
Rajwanti Devi, while speaking to The New Indian Express said, “A man who cannot work will definitely die of starvation. He should’ve informed me earlier that he is not able to work so that I could have made some arrangements for him.”
She further added that after the death of Bhiuyan, his family was given food grains with the help of district administration.
Defying Rajwanti Devi’s claim, wife of the deceased, Rubi Devi said that their family had no food grains in the last four to five months. They were forced to beg for food from other villagers.
The Kanhachatti Block Development Officer Pappu Rajak, on the other hand, said that Bhuiyan suffered paralysis due to which was he was unable to eat and eventually died.
Rajak said that it was not a case of starvation death and a post-mortem would reveal the actual reason for death. Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Kumar Singh has also ordered for an inquiry into the matter.
While the villagers did extend help for a while, they eventually stopped giving food to them. Rubi Devi and her family do not have any ration card at their home.
However, reports suggest that Bhuiyan’s four-year-old son’s name was listed in the ration card, which was then issued to his grandmother. The grandmother died a few years back.
At Least 20 Starvation Deaths In The State
In just two years, at least 20 people have died of alleged starvation. Just a month back, 64-year-old Ramchandra Munda of Latehar district died of similar cause, reports said. A fact-finding team’s ground report has revealed that Munda became the victim of abject poverty, starvation and lapses in the systems like Public Distribution System, MGNREGA.
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