Tejashwi alleges food crisis for new mothers at health centres

Patna: RJD national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday accused the NDA govt in Bihar of failing to provide even basic food to women visiting govt health institutions for childbirth, alleging that gas shortages at Jeevika’s “Didi Ki Rasoi” had disrupted meals for postpartum mothers.

Sharpening his attack on the ruling alliance, Tejashwi claimed women were being denied proper nutrition immediately after delivery despite repeated promises of welfare and empowerment by the “double-engine” govt.

“In Jeevika’s ‘Didi Ki Rasoi’, postpartum women are not getting food due to the unavailability of gas cylinders. Those who handed out Rs 10,000 in cash to 2.5 crore women on election day and hampered democracy have, as soon as the elections passed, left mother and child to die after childbirth,” Tejashwi wrote in a post on X.

Describing the situation as “double-engine chaos”, he alleged that the govt, despite projecting itself as women-friendly, had failed to ensure nutritious food for women after childbirth at health centres.

Tejashwi also shared a media report highlighting conditions at a community health centre where women who had recently delivered babies were allegedly forced to survive on biscuits, tea and flattened rice brought from outside instead of receiving hot cooked meals under the Poshan Abhiyan scheme.

He said women require nutritious food after childbirth for recovery and proper health care, but claimed the NDA govt had failed to provide even minimum facilities at govt institutions.

Calling the situation “shameful”, Tejashwi further alleged that 65% of women in Bihar were suffering from anaemia because of the “incompetence” of the NDA govt over the past 21 years.

He also questioned the silence of those in power over issues related to women’s health and nutrition, saying the condition exposed the gap between the govt’s claims and the ground reality in public health institutions across the state.