Centre orders probe into Delhi starvation deaths

NEW DELHI: The Centre has ordered an inquiry into the deaths of three children in the national capital reportedly due to starvation, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.

Three sisters, aged two, four and eight, were found dead in east Delhi's Mandawali area. The initial postmortem report attributed it to "malnourishment/starvation and its complications", prompting the city government to order a magisterial probe into the matter.
"We have ordered an enquiry into the matter," the consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister said today.


Meanwhile, official sources refuted claims by some AAP leaders that the state government's proposed doorstep delivery of ration scheme would have averted such a tragedy, saying the family was not eligible for subsidised ration as it did not have a ration card.
The AAP government has been alleging that the Lieutenant Governor, a Centre's appointee, is not allowing it to implement the scheme.

The sources said it is up to the state government to fix eligibility criteria for ration card beneficiaries. The responsibility of food distribution also lies with the state government, they added.

The central government's job is to deliver subsidised good to the state's go-downs, they said.