BHUBANESWAR: A war of words has ensued between the Opposition BJD and ruling BJP over deputy chief minister Pravati Parida’s remarks that eating mango kernel gruel is a traditional dietary practice of tribals which resulted in the tragic death of two women in Kandhamal district.
Condemning the statement of Parida, who is also the minister for Women and Child Development, senior BJD leader and former minister Sanjay Das Burma and party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty at a joint media conference here on Saturday said it was an attempt to suppress the failure of the BJP government in ensuring food security for the tribal people.
“It is matter of shame for the state that two people died and six were critically ill after eating mango kernel gruel. It has now come to light that the deceased and other affected families have not received ration under NFSA for the last four months. The public distribution system has crumbled under the new dispensation and exposed the incompetence of the BJP government,” they said.
Das Burma said the former chief minister Naveen Patnaik had launched a state food security programme for additional 25 lakh families who were not covered under NFSA. The new government has utterly failed the objective for which the scheme was launched.
Refuting the allegations, the BJP said that preliminary investigation by district administration revealed that the deceased along with six others undergoing treatment received their ration until September. “Therefore, allegations of not receiving ration are entirely false and fabricated. BJD is making baseless accusations for political gains,” state BJP vice-president Biranchi Narayan Tripathy said.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, Tripathy said the state government has immediately sent health experts to the area and is taking all measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Reminding the BJD about Nagada malnutrition deaths, Tripathy said under the former’s 24-year-rule, Odisha earned a dubious distinction of having 31 per cent malnutrition and 64 per cent anaemia among children while 61.8 per cent pregnant women were also anaemic. “The BJP government has inherited this from the previous government. The BJD leaders should refrain from spreading misinformation to divert attention from their own failures,” Tripathy said.