Alleged starvation death in Bundelkhand, BJP slams SP govt

A 41-year-old Dalit man died allegedly of starvation in the drought-hit district while going to fetch ration for his family members who had not eaten for four days, but authorities said it was a case of heart attack.
The matter gave opposition BJP ammunition to attack the Akhilesh Yadav government over claims that nobody will be allowed to die for want of food in Uttar Pradesh.
Nathu, who belonged to Aila village, was going to get a ration packet, being distributed by the government, to feed his family members when he died on the way here yesterday.
According to Munni Devi, wife of the deceased, the family was going without food for four days and Nathu kept waiting for government help. Yesterday, when Nathu was on his way to fetch the food packet, he died.

Howeve, rejecting the charge that it was a case of starvation death, District Magistrate Yogesh Kumar said as per the report of the sub-divisional magistrate of Naraini, it appeared to be a case of heatstroke or heart attack.
Since the family cremated the body without a post mortem examination, nothing can be said precisely but investigation is on, Kumar told PTI.

He said as soon as he was informed about the incident, the administration rushed ration packets to Nathu's family.
But, a sobbing Munni Devi said the relief came too late. She also said the revenue official of the village asked the family to cremate the body soon as they would not get any compensation.

She said an official of the tehsil today came over to take her thumb impression on some papers and asked them not to say anything about lack of food in their house to anyone.
Alleging that the SP government has failed to fix
responsibility in such sensitive matters, Maurya said the state machinery was not serious about reaching drought relief provided by the Centre to the needy and food packets being distributed by the state was aimed at wooing people for the 2017 Assembly polls.
State BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak described it as "a sorry tale of misgovernance" of Akhilesh Yadav government and charged the chief minister and his government with making "false propaganda" of helping people in drought-hit Bundelkhand.

The Uttar Pradesh government had recently set up a drought monitoring cell to gather information about the draught situation in Bundelkhand and other regions of the state.
The cell, headed by Joint Secretary (Revenue) Raja Ram, was constituted on April 28 to gather information as per the directives of National Disaster Management Authority and was asked present it to the government.
Official sources said the directives to deal with the drought situation have been issued to divisional commissioners and district magistrates concerned. Besides, toll free numbers have been notified and control room set up at Relief Commissioner's office.
With Bundelkhand facing severe heat wave and drought, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced a special package for the parched area, while the Centre has chalked out a multi- pronged strategy to mitigate the woes of distressed farmers.

Bundelkhand region is home to 18.3 million people as per 2011 census and is blighted by drought and unseasonal rain that destroyed standing winter crops. Over the last few years, several farmers have committed suicide in the region.