HC Asserts No Starvation Deaths In Telangana
Hyderabad: Days after the ruling Starvation deaths In Telangana, The High Court stated its stand, saying that it did not come across instances of people who died by suicide due to lack of food in the state.
Opposing its decision in a petition seeking monthly assistance of 15,000 for private cabins, a bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijayasena Reddy said that the state government was also providing rice to migrant laborers.
The judges said, “This includes 12 kg of rice per person and 1,500 cash per family. 60 kg of rice is given to a family of five for free.”
Also, to provide a program under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the judges said that for more than 80 crore people, rice is given to those who do not have ration card and the scheme has been extended till the end of November.
The judges said, “In fact, the authorities here are not using the central scheme of rice as it is not needed. Therefore, it is wrong to say that people are starving here.”
The bench told the petitioner, advocate Rapolu Bhaskar, that it would be difficult to track the mind of a man who takes his life away for a moment.
The bench also said that the petitioner is not a driver. “He is a lawyer. He cannot know the problems of drivers. Instead, he should collect opinions about the conditions of drivers and air grievances through the representation made by the Drivers’ Association to the state government,” the judges told his lawyer Makarla Rangaiya.
Rangaiya tried to explain the difficulties caused by the epidemic to cabs. He told the judges how many families of the drivers were suffering without food. “A driver had recently committed suicide,” the lawyer said.
However, the bench differed with this and reserved its decision.
