A 27-year-old migrant worker who was said to have spent days without a meal during her return journey from Bengaluru to her native place in Raichur district died at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) in Ballari on Sunday.
According to the kith and kin of the deceased, Gangamma, a resident of Sindhanur in Raichur district, had, along with other workers, left here for Bengaluru about a couple of weeks ago and began working as construction labour at Kengeri in Bengaluru.
After the country-wide lockdown was imposed on March 25 to curb the spread of COVID-19, the workers did not have any work to do and decided to return to their native place. They hired a tractor and left Bengaluru on March 30. However, they were stopped by the police near Tumakuru and forced to walk maintaining social distancing.
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After walking for a long time in the sun without food, they again boarded the tractor which followed them and continued the journey. However, they were again stopped on April 2 at a check-post near Ballari and kept at a relief centre in the city. As Gangamma, who had already had some ailments, had got exhausted without food, she was admitted to VIMS early next morning, where she died after two days.
“After she was admitted to VIMS, she was provided with fruits and food. Since she had other serious health ailments, she did not respond to treatment,” Deputy Commissioner of Ballari S.S. Nakul told presspersons on Tuesday.
“We cannot say that it was a starvation death. She might not have felt hungry as she had jaundice. When the patient was brought to the hospital, her blood pressure was low and her platelet count was around 7,000-8,000. She was also suffering from renal failure and hepatitis. She stopped responding to treatment and died,” B. Devanand, Director of VIMS, told
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