Two women tragically died in Mandipanka village within the Gadapur panchayat of Daringbadi block in Kandhamal district on October 30th after consuming mango kernel gruel.
One is a 28-year-old physically challenged woman, Runu Majhi and another 28-year-old Rumita Pattamajji while six other women were left battling for life in Berhampur MKCG Medical College & Hospital and Cuttack SCB MCH. All six are women. Except for Runu Majhi, all the others are a mother and deceased Rumita Pattamajhi is survived by a 3-year-old son and a 6-month-old daughter.
However, the government has denied the allegations of food scarcity. After the deaths of two women, a special medical team sent by the government reported that two of them had died of food poisoning and six others were under treatment and rejected any possibility of food scarcity. However, the reason behind the death of Runu and Rumita. Who is responsible for Pattamaji’s death remains a question mark
A special team of ‘Pragativadi’ recently made a visit to find out the real picture of why and how the incident took place in Mandipanka village, which is 43 km from Daringibadi block in tribal-dominated Kandhamal district.
The scribes from Pragativadi met the officers of the local administration and also the natives of the three localities of Mandipanka village- Badasahi, Dadasahi and Budiguda’ to unearth the truth and bring it to the fore. Digging more into the reality led to one unanswered question. Who is really to blame for the death of Runu and Rumita? Creator-Fate or Hunger!
Runu’s and Rumita’s families are neighbours in Dadasahi of Mandipanka village. Runu happens to be the sister-in-law of Rumita. Runu’s mother Jibani Majhi, Rumita’s mother-in-law Pravati Pattamajhi, Rumita’s sister-in-law Dingalu Majhi and three members of neighbouring house, Rita Majhi, Jhuni Majhi and Sushma Majhi, all consumed mango kernel together and after some time they all started vomitting. The family members took them all in an auto rickshaw to Brahmani Village Primary Health Centre, eight kilometers away. The doctor there gave them an injection and took them to Berhampur MKCG MCH. It was reported that after everyone reached there, Runu and Rumita died there.
Today, Rita Majhi and Jhuni Majhi are battling for life are are being treated in a critical condition at Cuttack SCB MCH. Four others are undergoing treatment at Berhampur MKCH MCH. Two of them died and six are in critical condition. Rumita’s thatched house is made of mud walls with two small rooms. Runu Majhi was unmarried as she was differently abled, she was staying with her parents.
Runu Majhi’s father and Rumita Majhi’s husband and many other people in the village said that both families are very poor with no land for farming. Rumita’s husband stays in Tamil Nadu to earn a living. The main source of food for both families is from the government that is five kilos of rice per member in the family. From December to July, they sell rice, turmeric to support the household. However, from August to November of the year the situation remains difficult as they struggle to survive.
In those four months there is no work or paddy is not harvested. In those four months there is shortage of food in everyone’s house. The government failed to provide rice that should be received every month. In that rule, rice was given for another three months in September or October, but the government did not give it. The government withheld that rice due to the E-KYC for updating the ration card. As a result, the rice given in June or for three months ran out by July. The food shortage started from August and September. The people of Mandipanka village dried the mango kernel gruel and started eating it. Not only in Runu and Rumita’s house, but in many houses, the mango kernel gruel became the food, especially for the women. They ate the kernel gruel out of hunger.
Three days before the incident in Runu Majhi’s house, mango kernel gruel was cooked and all the family members ate it. Some kernel gruel was left over and kept for the next day. Three days later, all eight women ate that kernel gruel and two of them died.
The reason for eating mango kernel gruel was that there was no rice to cook at home. It is clear that if they had rice in their house they would not have eaten the mango kernel gruel. The government gave the rice for the previous three months in June. The rice for the next three months was not given due to the delayed E-KYC updation. That means from July to the end of October the village of Mandipanka was without rice. The poor tribal families were forced to consume the mango kernel gruel.
The people of Mandipanka village or other poor tribal families do not eat mango koili jau in the fair or traditionally. They eat it when they are hungry. They break the kernel and take out the coal from it, grind it and eat it with rice at home. If there is no rice, they eat mango kernel gruel to satisfy their hunger. In addition to this, they also eat other tubers.
Runu Majhi, Rumita Pattamaji and others ate mango kernel gruel in that food scarcity situation. Leftovers from it got poisoned and took their lives. So the government medical team reported that they died due to food poisoning.
In such a situation, who will be blamed for the death of Runu and Rumita? The Creator, their Fate, or Hunger. Is Is it because God gave birth to them on the poor shore of tribals or is it written in their destiny to struggle to live in the throes of poverty and ‘hunger’. To satisfy that hunger, they are forced to eat stale food. People are dying of food poisoning instead of starvation.
