Mumbai: Four tribal children aged six months to six years and a young mother died on a single date last Nov, petitioners informed Bombay high court on Wednesday and submitted that over 100 orders passed in three decades in a PIL that seeks to address malnutrition deaths in Melghat are not fully complied with. The high court division bench of Justices R V Ghuge and Abhay Mantri quizzed why the govt was slack on compliance, and questioning Centre’s lack of reply at the hearing, posted the matter for orders on Thursday.The HC sought in 2006 that deaths due to malnutrition in the tribal areas of Melghat and Dharni be brought to zero in five years. Additional govt pleader Bhupesh Samant said the state was following up. The state’s March 18, 2026, govt resolution (GR) sets out conversion of 100 bed tribal belt hospital to a 300-bed district hospital and proportionately increase the doctors in Dharni, Chikhaldhar and Churni areas of Amravati. the construction would take time, the state said.Jugalkishor Gilda, a Nagpur-based advocate and former advocate general of Chhattisgarh, appearing for the petitioners, Dr Rajendra Burma and Dr Ravindra Kolhe of Amravati, argued that the welfare state ideology was failing the very people it is meant to protect. Gilda said in 2001 the HC directed construction of an ultra-modern hospital at Dharni, but it has not been implemented in its true spirit as govt hospitals lack modern facilities and tribals from remote villages had to travel to Amravati, three hours away. Gilda also informed the HC that the state budget for 20025-26 had in fact reduced the tribal welfare budget by 3.4%.After the HC passed an order last Dec, the state posted gynaecologists and paediatricians who would “visit for a day” and none stayed for even the five working days, thus frustrating the whole purpose of sending these specialists to treat pregnant women and malnourished children, the affidavit by Dr Kolhe said. It said the state’s “callous attitude itself demonstrates the care being bestowed by the welfare state to curb malnutrition deaths”.Gilda cited a news report quoting a minister who said between 2023-Sept 2025, the state witnessed nearly 35,000 deaths of children aged under 5, due to malnutrition in tribal areas. Gilda said two expert committee reports too remain largely on paper and nearly 70% doctor posts in Melghat and Dharni tribal belts are vacant.The state in its latest Feb affidavit said within the Amravati district, 109 child marriages were prevented between 2018 and 2026, and 17 FIRs were lodged. From 2018 to 2026, in the areas of Dharni and Chikhaldhara within Amravati, the authorities prevented 12 child marriages.
