Government of Madhya Pradesh, which is preparing a report for the Supreme Court on child deaths and measures to improve healthcare and basic facilities in tribal areas of Balaghat district. (Representational image)

The Madhya Pradesh government is preparing a report detailing measures undertaken in the tribal-dominated district of Balaghat in the state which reported deaths of 32 children due to various reasons in the last four months, for submission before the supreme court, officials said on Sunday.

The move comes in the wake of the supreme court seeking responses from the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government on providing compensation to the victims’ families and taking effective steps to protect their surviving children from severe malnutrition and lack of drinking water.

“The state government is preparing a report detailing measures undertaken in the Balaghat district to improve healthcare facilities and provision of other basic amenities in the tribal areas in the region”, officials said on Sunday.

Issuing notice on a petition filed by Balaghat resident Ajab Lal Lihare, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant observed that “What has happened is a very unfortunate thing”.

The petitioner submitted that several written representations, made to the authorities and elected representatives in the area, alerting the alarming situation, were ignored, leading to the tragedy.

The first death of a child was reported in August, which followed deaths of 31 more children over the last four months, the petition said.

In January, a social worker had alerted the local authorities that a severe, undiagnosed disease was rapidly spreading among Baiga children in Balaghat district.

The district has no doctors, diagnostic facilities or essential medicines in its forest belt.

The petition claimed that sporadic medical camps organized in January and February this year were prematurely abandoned without active surveillance, serological testing or vital cold-chain immunization drive.


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