Thirty-four children died in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar communal clashes, a panel constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government has found.
Of these, about a dozen deaths took place in the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. The other casualties took place either in the Primary Health Centres (PHCs), or in hospitals where the children had been referred for treatment. Four children died of pneumonia. The panel found that the deaths were due to various reasons, mostly health-related.
The committee was constituted to verify reports of child deaths in the camps and was headed by the Commissioner of Meerut Division, Manjit Singh.
It submitted its report to the government on Wednesday.
According to the Principal Secretary (Home) Anil Kumar Gupta, the committee found about 400 families belonging to villages in Baghpat and Meerut districts, where no clashes had taken place, being housed in the relief camps. “The reasons for them living in the relief camps are being assessed. If they are fearful, then steps would be taken to remove them,” Mr. Gupta said.
Suggestions
“The panel suggested that conditions in the relief camps be improved and steps be taken to enable the displaced persons return to their homes,” Mr. Gupta told journalists on Thursday.
Based on the committee’s findings, an action plan will be formulated for improving the facilities in the relief camps and creating a fear-free environment.
The communal violence which broke out on September 7 claimed 65 lives. It left 85 others injured and rendered 51,000 people, mostly Muslims, homeless. A total of 4,783 persons are still holed up in five relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, with 1,910 of them in Loi relief camp alone. Another 1,950 are in Malakpur.
‘Deaths outside camps’
Mr. Gupta said the panel concluded that a majority of child deaths had taken place outside the relief camps. “About 10-12 children below the age of 15 years died in the relief camps and four kids succumbed to pneumonia,” Mr. Gupta added.
Denying that there was medical negligence on the part of the doctors in the relief camps, Mr. Gupta said serious cases were referred to PHCs and district hospitals. In 39 cases, primary treatment was given in the relief camps. Mr. Gupta claimed that the medical facilities at the relief camps have improved.
Children at relief camps for victims of Muzaffarnagar riots
Lucknow: Amid a raging controversy over child deaths in the relief camps for people displaced by the Muzaffarnagar riots in September, the Uttar Pradesh government has admitted for the first time that 34 children below the age of 15 died in the aftermath of the clashes.
This was concluded by a fact-finding committee of the state government, which has contradicted Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, by saying that over 2,500 riot-affected people are still living in relief camps.
Mulayam Singh Yadav had controversially said earlier this week that there were no riot victims in the camps, only conspirators and political activists planted by the BJP and the Congress.
"There are only displaced people in the camps," said AK Gupta, UP Principal Secretary, Home, while announcing the findings of the committee.
Mr Yadav's comments were slammed as insensitive at a time child deaths were reported from the relief camps, where several families are surviving the bitter winter with only plastic sheets as roofs.
Media reports had said that 39 children had died in the relief camps due to poor facilities and the government's negligence.
The government's fact-finding committee, however, says of the 34 child deaths between September 7 and December 20, only 10-12 took place in relief camps of which four were due to pneumonia. The rest died at private or government hospitals where their parents took them, it said.
The committee said there was no medical negligence and that no one died of severe cold or any epidemic in the camps. But it has also recommended that the government should improve the facilities in these camps.
"People also have to be convinced to return home to their villages and assured that their needs of safety and security will be taken care of," the committee said.
The National Commission for Minorities on Thursday admitted a petition seeking action against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh for saying that not one of the Muzaffarnagar riot victims now lives in any relief camp.
The petitioner cited remarks made by Mulayam Singh while addressing a party gathering in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on December 23, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.