Mumbai: Over 500 infants have died in the last nine months and at least 150 miscarriages occurred in Melghat, a tribal area in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court was informed on Friday. The HC was further informed, the infant mortality rate is at an all time high in the tribal areas of Amravati and Akola because the Maharashtra government has failed to implement the benefit schemes in spirit.
A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Nitin Jamdar, observed, “No government would want children in its state to die at such a rate. We think the government has all its resources just that the manner in which it is implementing the schemes needs serious attention.”
Interrupting the Chief Justice, activist Rajendra Burma, the petitioner said, “The government has manpower, money and resources, but it does not have a will. The government is heartless and shows no sensitivity for the poor tribals.” Burma continued saying, “The Melghat and adjoining areas are drought prone. There is no water available for drinking. There are no doctors to conduct health check-ups of these people. These people do not seek any high-class facilities, they only seek their basic rights,” Burma submitted.
In his submissions, Burma also said the Integrated Child, Development Scheme (ICDS) needs a re-look, as they were, implemented several decades ago and now there has been a drastic change in the conditions of tribals living in these remote, areas. Meanwhile, Purnima Upadhyay, another activist and petitionerin the case, apprised the bench of the fact that several areas in Akola and Amravati have no connectivity and nobody can reach out to the people living there.
