Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has demanded the Government to pay compensation to the tribal families whose children died of malnutrition in Attappady.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday after visiting the tribal hamlets of Nellippathy and Kandiyoor and the Kottathara Tribal Specialty Hospital, Mr. Achuthanandan has said that the tribal who have no employment and food are starving should be provided six months free ration.
He said an inquiry has to be done how the tribal people lost their land to the settlers. If this continues there could be a situation where the tribal population might face the danger of extinction.
The Government is making only announcement of various special packages for Attappady. But nothing was implemented. Till now the Anganwadis are not supplying protein food items. Neither the Government nor the Grama Panchayats are giving fund for it.
He said that the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was stopped in Attappady. The workers are paid wages only after three months. This has put them in great hardship.
He observed that the plight of the tribal people in Attappady is extremely dismal. In the past couple of years the United Democratic Front (UDF) government has done nothing for the tribal people.
The Kottathara Super Specialty Hospital which was established during the previous Left Democratic Front government has no adequate staff facilities and medicine, he said.
He said that the preference for rural service in the admission for P.G Medical courses for doctors was discontinued by the UDF government last year. This will badly affect the health care scenario in remote rural areas like Attappady.
