5 year-old child dies of thirst in Rajasthan's Jalore

A five-year-old girl has died in Roda village of Raniwada Tehsil due to extreme heat and thirst. Simultaneously, an elderly woman also fainted. Raniwada Police reached the spot and police brought the elderly woman in an unconscious state to the Community Health Center Raniwada through a private vehicle.

Raniwada (Jalore, Rajasthan): A five-year-old girl has died in Roda village of Raniwada Tehsil due to extreme heat and thirst. Simultaneously, an elderly woman also fainted. Raniwada Police reached the spot and police brought the elderly woman in an unconscious state to the Community Health Center Raniwada through a private vehicle. And, the treatment of the woman is going on at present.

As per reports, an elderly woman along with a five-year-old girl were coming from Raipur village through the sandy gorges towards Roda village. Due to excessive heat and thirst, the girl died and the woman fainted. According to the police, the woman has been identified as Suki Devi Bhil. Raniwada Police has started investigating the case.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Right has taken seriously the incident of the death of a girl child of Roda village under the Raniwada police station area in Jalore due to the non-availability of water. Taking cognizance of the matter, the commission directed District Collector Jalore to conduct a speedy investigation and action in the matter.

Sangeeta Beniwal, the President of Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Right, has also provided instructions to ensure the availability of drinking water in all urban, rural and desert areas in the district. Beniwal has appealed to the general public to not allow young children to stay in the sun and give them a sufficient amount of fluids and other nutritious food so that the health of the children remains fine in this hot weather.

The Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has also attacked the Gehlot government for the death of the girl. Javadekar has tweeted and described it as a shameful incident, while Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathod has called it serious negligence of the Rajasthan government.

In India, around 88 million population lack access to clean and safe drinking water. About 26 per cent of India’s population practices open defecation, a critical factor contributing to water-borne illness and deaths. Several states and cities of India are parched. Rajasthan is one of the worst affected states in the country. The Centre has set a target of providing clean and safe drinking water to all by the year 2024. The government also have an ambitious plan of river-linking projects which can mitigate the water crisis in India.