The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, said here [Ambikapur] today [June 11] that though the situation in Sarguja district in Madhya Pradesh was “serious”, she did not find any “specific” instance of starvation deaths alleged by the Opposition and Sarvodaya leaders. (Sarvodaya leaders had asserted that 207 persons had died of starvation). She, however, conceded that it was difficult to draw a line between malnutrition and starvation deaths. Mrs. Gandhi was talking to newsmen before leaving for New Delhi after a hectic one-day tour of the interior parts of the scarcity-stricken Sarguja district. She said the complaints of starvation deaths received by her from the people she met during her tour were too general. When they were asked by her to name a few persons who had actually died of starvation, all that was mentioned was the death of a six-month-old child and that of an old man. Mrs. Gandhi said that the State Chief Minister, Mr. D.P. Mishra, who accompanied her on the tour of the district, had told her that some persons alleged to have died of hunger in the Sarvodaya survey were actually found to be alive on verification. Mr. V. C. Shukla, Union Minister of State for Home and three Madhya Pradesh M.Ps. also accompanied the Prime Minister. Asked whether as a result of her visit Madhya Pradesh could hope for its full Central quota of foodgrains, Mrs. Gandhi said practically no State was getting its full quota at present despite the Centre’s best efforts to give them more. The Prime Minister stressed the need for more local efforts to meet the situation in the district.
