Man made disaster
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: 12th April, 2008 -

Responsibilities should be fixed and heads should roll, if the statement issued by the Hmar Students' Association that 11 children have died in four villages of Tipaimukh sub-division due to the famine like situation following the Mautam phenomenon is anything to go by.

It is a shame that children should die of malnutrition when India is on a high and has already become an economic giant of reckoning in the world platform.

Ever since the story of the devastation caused by the bamboo flowering hit the pages of the State dailies since last year, we had anticipated the worst and had urged the Government to take up all possible steps so that the worst does not come to pass.

Some time back we had also deputed a reporter to the interiors of Churachandpur district to assess the situation there and the harrowing experience of the villagers, whose foodstock was running low, was reported for the world to see and digest.

Though the situation and the anticipated development was publicised and commented upon, the Congress led SPF Government has been dragging its feet on the matter and it is intolerable that young infants have to face the grim reality of live slowly ebbing out from them due to starvation and malnutrition.

The children faced the ignominy of dying due to starvation, not because of the natural phenomena known as Mautum but due to the indifference of the Government towards the plight of the affected people.

Can Chief Minister O Ibobi please explain why children should be allowed to die because of starvation in this age and time ?

The onus should fall on the Government and if any of the Ministers or MLAs have any moral conviction then they should gracefully step down for their utter inefficiency.

To dub the deaths of the children due to a natural phenomena would be misinterpreting the facts for the children died due to the sheer callousness of the Government.

It is surprising to learn from the Hmar Students' Association that no relief food grain except those arranged under the payments to be made to the villagers under the National Rural Employment Generation Scheme have been released to the affected villagers till date.

Why has the Government failed to take a decision over a matter which require such urgency ?

There cannot be any reason for dilly-dallying over such a sensitive issue and the Government needs to pull up its socks and see what can be done and fast at that.

The people of Manipur have been suffering the corruption, the inefficiency and the haughtiness of the SPF Government for years but this is no reason why we should tolerate the latest case, which has led to the death of 11 innocent children.

As we have said earlier, going to bed on an empty stomach and seeing one's loved ones facing the ignominy of starvation, because there is no food in the granary is not merely a question of going without food for the day but also about the impact on one's dignity.

If the Chief Minister and his men have any conscience they should hang their heads in shame and apologise to the public and take up remedial steps.

Has the Chief Minister and his Nehru coat attired men ever thought about the indignity of starving ?

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