By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Wednesday expressed concern over the increasing cases of starvation deaths and farmers’ suicides in Orissa and asked the state to take appropriate measures to root out the problems.
“The commission has received complaints of starvation deaths and farmers’ suicides in the backward KBK (Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput) region and has asked the state to take appropriate measures,” NHRC chairperson K.G. Balakrishnan said.
Addressing a press conference after the completion of the two-day camp sitting of the commission here, he said the apex watchdog on human rights has asked the state to submit action taken reports on the matter.
“We will continue to monitor the situation until they submit a final report,” he said.
Commission member Satyabrata Patel said the KBK districts have many problems and the panel was looking at the larger issue.
Describing the hunger deaths as terrible, he said the commission wants to ensure that relief is provided to the survivors.
“Even after years of monitoring, there is still strong evidence of chronic malnutrition in KBK districts and that is the issue which we are focusing,” he said.