Madurai
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday has sought a response from the Centre and the State in a public interest litigation petition that highlighted the plight of the tribal communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi sought a response in the PIL petition filed by R. Ezhiloviya of Pudukkottai. The petitioner sought a direction to authorities to set up community kitchens to offer nutritious food to the tribal communities in the State.
The petitioner said that she works with various NGOs and was involved in the distribution of books, notes and other educational materials to the tribal children. She pointed out that the tribal communities were among the worst affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the pandemic and the lockdown restrictions, the tribal people could not market their produce and they were suffering financially. They were dependent on the help provided by the government and NGOs, she said.
The self-sustaining population has turned into a dependent one due to the pandemic. The tribal children were assured of nutritious food, but the closure of schools has denied them nutritious food. Intake of nutritious food was necessary to develop immunity, she said.
The petitioner also sought a direction to the authorities to set up COVID care centres in government guest houses and other government buildings in the tribal hamlets.
The petitioner said that a COVID-19 testing drive must be conducted in tribal hamlets. In order to ensure that education of the children was not affected, she said that makeshift schools with necessary infrastructure for conducting online classes must be set up in the tribal villages.
