The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed noisy scenes over reports of deaths of Sabar community members allegedly due to starvation and malnutrition, with members of the Congress and Left parties staging a walkout.
The Opposition MLAs wanted a discussion on the deaths, which was not accepted by Speaker Biman Banerjee. Both parties decided to boycott the proceedings for the entire week.
Earlier in the day, while participating in the House proceedings, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rubbished the reports as “fabricated” and said the government was providing food grains to every poor person.
“Two people have died of illness and old age, others have died due to liver problems caused by excessive consumption of liquor,” she said.
Meanwhile, a delegation of six civil rights activists of the Right to Food Campaign visited the hamlet of Sabar community at Purnapani Lalgarh in Jhargram district.
“The people were so scared to speak that they ran into the forest,” said Anurdha Talwar, one of the members of the delegation.
