BHUBANESWAR: Mounting a scathing attack on the Odisha government, leader of the Opposition and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Thursday held it responsible for the deaths of two tribal women after consuming mango kernel at Mandipanka village in Kandhamal district recently.
The former chief minister said that poor tribals are now forced to consume mango kernel due to lack of adequate food in their homes as the state government has stopped providing them rice.
"The state government has stopped the provision of rice for poor tribals. Therefore, they were forced to eat mango kernel gruel. Two people have died and others are undergoing treatment. This is very sad," Naveen said while addressing members of party’s students wing at Sankha Bhawan, the BJD headquarters here.
The former chief minister said the previous BJD government had launched several schemes for the poor people of the state. Naveen expressed concern over the decisions taken by the BJP government and said it has ruined the efforts of the previous BJD government which had ensured that people received adequate grains.
"When our government was in power, people were getting adequate grains. We had introduced a food security scheme for those not covered under the NFSA. Now, the current government has ruined all those efforts, and as a result, people are forced to eat mango kernel gruel because they’re not getting rice," he added.
Naveen said that the previous government had introduced the state’s own food security scheme for those who were not covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). He expected the present government to continue with the scheme as food security of people cannot be compromised.
He called on the youth and student wings of the party to counter the propaganda of rivals on social media.