Raipur, April 07: Supreme Court commissioner Harsh Mander said Wednesday that he could not confirm any starvation deaths in Morpalli and surrounding areas in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
Mander, who visited the area Wednesday along with Chhattisgarh’s principal secretary for food and civil supplies, Vivek Dhand, told reporters here on his return from the forested village that “people may not be dying, but they are living in hunger” in the conflict zones of Dantewada.
“Caught in the conflict from two or three sides, people are facing lot of difficulties. There is no minimum presence of the government in these areas where there is a conflict between Naxalites, security forces and as well as Salwa Judum,” he remarked.
Mander visited Morpalli, some 500 km south from capital Raipur, on instructions from the apex court in the wake of media reports that six people had died in the village recently due to starvation after policemen allegedly burnt down over 200 huts in three villages – Morpalli, Tarmetla, and Timmapuram – between March 11-16.
The tribals had also alleged that policemen had killed a few people in the villages and raped women.
–IANS–