Akshaya Kumar Sahoo Jhintu Bariha and his family members were victims of chronic hunger. A migrant labourer, illiterate Jhintu never availed of the social security measures -- either job at the door step or government supplied food -- until he lost two of his three children. ON SEPTEMBER 6 and 7, 2009, 43-year-old Jhintu Bariha of Chabripali village under Khaprakhol block in Bolangir district of Orissa lost two of his three chil- dren: 10-month-old daugh- ter Gunduru Bariha and two- year-old son Siba Prasad. Two days later, he lost his wife Bimla. And on October 7, he breathed his last, leav- ing behind his old parents and minor son to struggle with their uncertain fate. Perhaps, God was still unkind to the family. Jhin- tu's mother Minji Bariha also followed them on December 17. Champe Bariha, Jhintu's father, has stopped shedding tears now. In fact, his sunken eyes have dried up. He is no longer cursing God for his present condition. Instead, he's asking Him to send him to the place where his near and dear ones have gone, never to return again. "I'm desperately pleading the God to take me to my near and dear ones. I cannot survive without them," says 79-year-old Champe. Nine- year-old Ramprasad Bariha, the only surviving child of Jhintu, has been sent to Biswa Nilayam, a local short-stay home. A visit to this village revealed that Jhintu and his family mem- bers were victims of chronic hunger. A migrant labourer, illiterate Jhintu never availed of the social security measures -- either job at the doorstep or government sup- plied food -- until he lost two of his three children. When asked, the villagers said in unison, "Sabu aasila dui ta pila kharap hela pare (everything was provided only after Jhintu lost two children." (This newspaper has audio-video records of the villagers' statement). Sarapanch Chudamani Nag attributes the death of Jhintu and his family members to malaria. "Ours is a malaria- prone area. Jhintu and his family members died of the disease," says Nag. The local block development officer Chandramani Seth concurs with Mr Nag. "Our investi- gation reveals that Jhintu's family members suffered from malaria. The adminis- tration had extended every possible healthcare and pro- vided rice under below poverty line (BPL) scheme," says Mr Seth. Mr Seth adds that since Jhintu was a migrant labour- er and spent most of the time in a year working in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh, he failed to get timely support from the administration. The truth, as found by this newspaper, is something dif- ferent. The landless Jhintu Bariha's never was enumer- ated in the BPL list. Only after he lost two of his children to hunger, a perturbed administration supplied him an APL card (Above Poverty Line) apparently to guard itself against media expose. (This newspaper is in pos- session of the APL card). "Jhintu, who had burnt his fingers in an accident in Andhra Pradesh, ran from pillar to post to get a BPL card but in vain. It is quite shocking that the adminis- tration -- which could not provide the BPL card to the landless labourer -- added salt to his injury by supply- ing an APL card," says Khageswar Bariha, a village youth. Investigation revealed that the village, located on the foothill of the Gandhamar- dan hill, was never visited by health department offi- cials until the untoward inci- dent happened. Despite hav- ing nearly 70 households with population of 250, the village always remained inaccessible because of lack of road communication. The villagers say the gov- ernment was awakened to build a road to connect to the village under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme only after five lives of Jhintu's family were lost. Local sarpanch Chudamani Nag and gram panchayat executive officer Prabin Pan- igrahi contend that despite suggestions by health work- ers people in the region do not use mosquito net and get affected with malaria. "If you provide a mosquito net to them, they use it as fishing net. They do not take medi- cines and instead visit quacks," they point out. Edu- cational infrastructure is very poor in the area. Until three year ago, children had to trek 11 km to get second- ary school education. In the last part of 2006, a high school was established at Bhanpur which is still 5 km away of Chabripali. State revenue minister Suryanarayan Patra denies the allegation of Jhintu fam- ily perishing from hunger. "I have received a report from the Bolangir collector on Jhintu Bariha's family. It says starvation is not the cause of the deaths." Bolangir forms a major part of the KBK (Koraput- Bolangir-Kalahandi) region which is infamously known for starvation, hunger deaths and child sale. Newspaper reports suggest that in the last two years, 50 people in the age group of 30-45 died of chronic hunger and prolonged mal- nourishment in Bolangir district. The region spanning the southwestern tribal tract of Orissa came under the spotlight in 1986, when news of starvation deaths and distress sale of children in Kalahandi drew the atten- tion of the then Prime Min- ister Rajiv Gandhi. Tens of thousands of rupees have since been spent on develop- ment of the region. Although some areas have turned around, people in several pockets still languish in abject poverty. In Bolangir alone, about 62 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, official estimates say. According to the data avail- able with the Union rural development ministry, only 476 (0.2 per cent) of the dis- trict's 2,40,001 households covered by the National Rural Employment Guaran- tee Scheme have BPL cards.