Jharkhand CM orders probe into starvation death of girl

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday ordered a probe into the death of an 11-year-old girl in Jharkhand's Simdega district allegedly due to starvation.

Santoshi Kumari, a resident of Karimati village of Simdega district, died on September 28. The death came to light after it was reported on Sunday by an organisation working on food security related issues.

The mother had said in a statement that the girl died due to starvation as the family members did not get the food grain from the Public Distribution System shop as their ration card was not linked with the Aadhaar card.

According to reports, the mother said the girl died crying – "Bhat-Bhat". ‘Bhat' means cooked rice in the local language. 

The Jharkhand Chief Minister on Tuesday visited Simdega and spoke with the Deputy Commissioner of the district. The DC informed that the girl died due to malaria and not starvation. 

Raghubar Das announced Rs 50,000 to the family of the girl as relief.

He also directed the DC to look personally into the issue and submit a report.

The Jharkhand government has made provisions for linking ration cards with Aadhaar to prevent fraud. - IANS