Malnutrition ambit expanded to K’jhar

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has extended the ambit of the PIL on malnutrition among children in Jajpur region to adjoining Keonjhar district.
The HC issued the order on Thursday after perusal of the affidavit filed by the Jajpur collector in reply to the petition seeking an inquiry into malnutrition cases among children in Danagadi block. Mantu Das, a Jajpur-based social activist, filed the petition.
In regard to the 11 children whose instances were cited in the petition, Jajpur collector Chakravarti Singh Rathore confirmed in his affidavit that four of them were severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) and three were moderately and acutely malnourished (MAM).
One child, Subhalaxmi Tarai, who was suffering from cerebral palsy and secondary malnutrition, passed away. The remaining children were “normal”, that is, not falling in the categories of SAM or MAM, the affidavit said.
Taking note of it, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy said, “What this petition has brought out is just the situation of a few areas under Danagadi and Sukinda blocks in Jajpur district. Whereas there could be other districts and blocks where the situation may be equally bad or perhaps worse.” The bench said: “From available statistics it appears that one such district which has 2,820 children in SAM category is Keonjhar and therefore would require immediate attention. The court would therefore extend the coverage of the petition to Keonjhar district also.”