“It is due to chronic hunger which led to malnutrition and lack of medical treatment that caused the death,” the party said. In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, a delegation of BJP said that the death of 19 children speaks volumes about the health condition of the Juang tribal people in the area. As the different Opposition parties continued to blame the BJD government for the death of 19 tribal children in Nagada village due to malnutrition, the BJP on Thursday urged Governor S.C. Jamir to direct the State government to implement the welfare schemes meant for the benefit of the downtrodden people. The ICDS programme, one of the most important food security programmes to ensure nutritious food to the children was not implemented in Nagada village due to non existence of Anganwadi centre, the party said in the memorandum. Meanwhile, the Odisha State Committee of the CPI(M) said that the death of the children in Nagada had exposed the Naveen Patnaik Government’s claim of development as the village had not been covered under the ICDS scheme till date.

Source: The Hindu July 22, 2016 00:00 UTC