Food, essential goods being supplied to tribal region: HC told

The Maharashtra government on Thursday informed the Bombay High Court that food and other essential commodities are being supplied to the people living in the tribal belt of the state.

Justice G S Patel was hearing a petition filed by Vivek Pandit, in which the latter raised concerns over the condition of impoverished tribal people in various districts across the state amid the lockdown announced by the government due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The court was hearing urgent matters via video conferencing, which was live-streamed on Zoom app. The petitioner's counsel Niteen Pradhan told the court that the government should also continue providing food and other facilities to students in ashram shalas (residential schools for tribal children).

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Government pleader P Kakade told the court that milk, eggs, cooked meals and other essential goods are being supplied to every person in the tribal belt across the state.

"The supply may not be at the same scale as earlier, but there is no stoppage of supply," Kakade said.

He further told the court that in some ashram shalas, the students have gone back to their homes and these schools are now being used to shelter migrant workers who are stuck in various parts of the state due to the lockdown.

The court accepted the statement, but said the situation would have to be monitored. It posted the petition for further hearing on April 20.

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