“This national lockdown took away my child, my work, everything. There was nothing to eat in the house for three days, and when our boy fell ill, the doctor in the government hospital prescribed a medicine we had to get from outside. When there is no money even to eat, where can we get the medicine from? We went out to earn but did not get any work because of the lockdown. My son died of hunger. There was neither any medicine nor any food.”
Durga Musahar, a labourer living in Arrah's Jawahar Tola, sobbed as he narrated the ordeal his family had gone through.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the government had ordered a 21-day lockdown during which, on 26 March, 11-year-old son of Durga Musahar died, allegedly from hunger and lack of medicine.
However, the district administration is absolutely denying these charges.
No Medicine Available at the Hospital
Talking to The Quint, Durga said that the national coronavirus lockdown took his son's life. Since he works as a labourer, he has very little savings. Whatever he earns on a given day, his family has to survive on that.
“Rakesh was ill, so we took him to Sadar Hospital on 22 March. The doctor did a check-up, but there was no medicine available there. We were asked to bring medicine from outside. But we did not have the money to buy medicine, we had just somehow managed food for two days. But when neither food nor medicine were available, my son died.”
After Rakesh's death, Durga has a son, a daughter and a wife to support.
The family alleges that the news of the death was given to the DM and SDO, but no one came to inform them. Finally, the police station in charge was informed, who went to them, and in whose presence the last rites were performed.
‘No Help From the Government’
Durga said that not even a single penny has been given from the government in aid, and neither has any official come to check on them.
On this matter, CPI-ML's Secretary in Arrah says, "There are about 35 Dalit families living in this area, most of them do garbage collection work or manual labour, and so, they do not have so much money that they are able to easily make it through a lockdown situation. Ever since the lockdown has been enforced, the people living here have had to fend for their survival. The condition of Durga's family was also bad. We came to know about their lack of food after the death occurred. At present, with the help of others, all 35 families were given 10 kilograms of food, including 8 kg rice and 2 kg flour. "
Official Inquiry Ordered
The district administration of Arrah has ordered an inquiry into the matter. The city commissioner is investigating this matter. When The Quint asked Municipal Commissioner Dhirendra Paswan about the matter, he flatly denied that the death was due to starvation.
However, he admitted that many people in Musahar Toli do not have ration cards. Rakesh’s father said he does not, in fact, have a ration card. On Rakesh’s death, Paswan said that the child was ill, had a fever, and his death occurred because of the same. It had nothing to do with hunger. When the commissioner was asked why the hospital was unable to provide the medicine, he refused to answer.
He recommended that the SDO and DM be approached about the matter. The Quint tried to reach both the SDO and the DM several times but could not get a straight answer. The PA of the SDO responded after several calls and said, "Sir is busy with the coronavirus issue, but he has said that the child did not die of starvation." At present, no response has been received from the DM. This report will be updated as soon as any response comes.
(This story was first published in HindiQuint and has been translated by Ria Chopra.)
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