
Accusing the Tripura government of miserably failing in rural
development, the opposition CPI(M) Thursday claimed that people,
especially from tribal communities, are facing hunger and starvation in
vast tracts of land in hilly terrains. The allegations were, however,
brushed aside by Deputy Chief Minister and senior tribal leader Jishnu
Debbarman.
Speaking to reporters here, Radhacharan Debbarma, the state
secretariat member of the CPI(M), claimed that tribal people at East
Govindabari village of Dhalai district, 110 Km from here, face a severe
crisis of jobs due to the breakdown of unskilled labour under
MGNREGA. It has caused a shortage of job, food and a tribal man has died
due to starvation there, Radhacharan claimed.
“We came to know that Japanda Tripura, a person living in East
Gobindabari ADC village died due to starvation on January 18. Six of us
visited his family,” claimed Radhacharan, who is also the chief
executive member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council
(TTAADC).
“They told us that there is no work in government schemes like NREGA.
Japanda Tripura had nothing to eat for four days before he passed
away,” he told reporters.
The delegation comprised of TTAADC executive member Joybahadur
Jamatiya, former Scheduled Caste Welfare minister Ratan Bhowmik, MLA
Mubassar Ali, MLA Jashbir Tripura among others.
Japanda Tripura’s family comprises of eight members, including his son, daughter-in-law and their five children.
Earlier in June last year, Lok Sabha MP Jitendra Chaudhury flagged
the crisis of food in rural Tripura and said hundreds of tribal people
have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, crossing the international border,
in search of work and food.
Radhacharan claimed that Japanda’s family received a NREGA wage of Rs. 1,500 on December 10 last year.
“Tribal families in Tripura mostly survive on forest produce. They
also do some shifting cultivation and odd jobs. But out of the money
they received as NREGA wages, they used some to pay off debts and bought
daily necessities with the rest. The supplies ran out before long and
Japanda Tripura died out of starvation,” he claimed.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Dhalai district Chief Medical Officer
(CMO) Saradindu Riyang said he had no reports of any starvation death in
the district in the last few months. “I don’t have any report of
starvation death in Dhalai district recently”, the official said.
However, he informed that he has come to know about Japanda Tripura’s
death and informed that he has summoned a report from the Medical
Officer in-charge on the subject. “I shall have the report soon. I shall
be able to comment further after I inspect the report,” Riyang said.