By IANS,
New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has questioned the health ministry and the Maharashtra government over a media report alleging that at least 16 children died of malnutrition in Mumbai since April this year.
An NHRC statement Monday said: “The commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging that at least 16 children under six years died due to malnutrition and related illness from April this year in Mumbai.”
“The commission has observed that if the report is true then it raises serious issues of violation of human rights of children in Mumbai. So it has issued notices to the secretary, ministry of health, and the chief secretary of Maharashtra to submit a report in the matter,” an NHRC official said.
The report said that between 40-60 percent of the city’s nearly 7.3 lakh children up to the age of four living in slums were malnourished.
The scale of malnutrition in Mumbai suggested a failure of child welfare schemes, it stated.