New Delhi: A 65-year-old man allegedly died of starvation due to failure of an electronic machine in Latehar district of Jharkhand on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Ramcharan Munda. His family reportedly said that they haven’t received ration for the past three months as the biometric-based machine used for delivery was not working.
Munda’s daughter told news agency ANI, “We haven’t received ration for the past three months. He had not eaten anything in the past four days.”
However, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sudhir Kumar rejected the family’s claim that Munda died due to starvation. He said that the man was provided with all benefits like Ayushman Bharat Yojana, ration card and pension.
SDM Sudhir Kumar: It hasn’t yet been proved that he died from starvation. He was provided all benefits like Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Ration card, pension. There is no internet connection here, so we are now working on offline distribution. https://t.co/STxI7qtmGX
— ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2019
Nonetheless, he admitted that the area had no internet connection and the distribution of the ration was being done through offline means.
Several cases have been reported relating to poor administration of welfare schemes in Jharkhand. The villagers alleged that the non-working of the machine has caused starvation in the entire state.
Meanwhile, in May, Motka Mahji, a daily wage labourer from a village in Dumka, Jharkhand died of hunger as he did not receive ration for nearly than 15 days.
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