Congress demands resignation of Jharkhand minister

New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) The Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of Jharkhand Food and Public Distribution Minister Saryu Roy following the death of 11-year-old Santoshi Kumari in state's Simdega district allegedly due to starvation.

"Congress party is doing dharna in Simdega. Eveybody knows that the family was not getting food grain through the Public Distribution System," said Congress in-charge of Jharkhand R.P.N. Singh.

"The Modi government has completely destroyed the PDS system. In Jharkhand too, more than 12 lakh families are not getting food grain because their ration cards are not linked with the Aadhaar card."

But the Central and state governments are running away from their responsibility, he said.

"The Minister (Saryu Roy) should resign immediately and there should be a probe that in the whole country how many families are not being given food grain because their ration cards are not linked with the Aadhaar card," he said.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday ordered a probe into the death of Santoshi Kumari.

Kumari, a resident of Karimati village of Simdega district, died on September 28. The death came to light after it was reported on Sunday by an organisation working on food security related issues.

The mother had said in a statement that the girl died due to starvation as the family members did not get the food grain from the PDS shop as their ration card was not linked with the Aadhaar card.