Reach food scarcity pockets with succour

When the government had anticipated the situation and put aside funds to meet such an eventuality, it is disappointing to learn that the money hasn't been released on time and that food relief is yet to reach the needy people. The measures so far undertaken appear to have been at best halfhearted.

When in fact this is a yearly feature, the affected people need not have gone through the distress they are in at the moment, had the concerned authority demonstrated some alacrity in their planning and action.

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That the whole system is hamstrung by lack of inter-ministerial coordination suggests that the relevant agencies of the government have been caught napping and are still rather ill-prepared to handle the situation.

What is beyond comprehension is that, in spite of not only special provision of cash and kind set aside for this region and also the VGF programme being undertaken at this time of the year these people have to suffer a near-famine situation. It hardly needs to be emphasised that the government should immediately provide relief to the affected people of the region by galvanizing all concerned into action.

Monga is an annual occurrence that is brought about by lack of employment at a particular time of the year. There have been voluble commitments on the part of the government to embark on long term rehabilitation programmes for the region which unfortunately have not materialised. Has the vulnerable area been brought under any specific development plan? That is the question begging a satisfactory answer now.