New Delhi: The suspected starvation deaths of three sisters - aged two, four and eight - from a slum in deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's constituency has left the Delhi government "shocked".
Under fire from political opponents, Aam Aadmi Party leaders suggested their proposed scheme for doorstep delivery of rations, which they accuse lieutenant governor Anil Baijal of stalling, could have saved the girls.
The three sisters, who lived in a single-room apartment with their parents at Pandit Chowk, part of Sisodia's Patparganj constituency, were dead when neighbours brought them to hospital in the early hours of Tuesday.
An initial post-mortem (a second one is in progress) attributed the deaths to "malnutrition/starvation and its complications".
The state government's first reaction came at 8.36.pm on Wednesday when Sisodia ordered a magisterial probe. Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan too has ordered an inquiry.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari blamed the AAP government for the deaths, provoking an attack from AAP spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj tweeted that the number of beneficiaries of the public distribution system had increased in the Arvind Kejriwal government's first year in office, and that the BJP and Baijal had stalled the doorstep delivery scheme.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP members from Delhi alleged a ration scam in the capital. Congress MP Deepender Hooda blamed both the Centre and the state government for the deaths.
East Delhi district magistrate K. Mahesh, who will submit his inquiry report on the deaths on Friday, told The Telegraph the girls' parents had come from Bengal.
"The eldest girl was in a municipal school where she had the midday meal on Monday. She was vomiting and passing stool in school, so her teacher asked her to take the next day off," he said, adding that the younger girls too showed the same symptoms.
"Their father (Mangal Singh, an out-of-work former e-rickshaw driver) had got medicines from a chemist but the children did not recover. He is still not traceable as he doesn't have a mobile and had gone out in search of work."
Mahesh said the family had Aadhaar cards but no ration card. Mangal had migrated to Delhi more than 15 years ago. The family was staying with a friend after being evicted by their landlord over unpaid dues.
Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken and BJP counterpart Tiwari visited the home on Thursday. Later, Delhi government officials drove Veena, the girls' mother, and a relative to a sub divisional magistrate's office where they met Sisodia and Mahesh.
Sisodia told reporters after the meeting: "I want to say that be it due to starvation, poverty or illness, it is the biggest failure of our system.... I have sought a report from the Integrated Child Development Services."
The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to Delhi's chief secretary and the secretary to the Union women and child development ministry, which oversees the ICDS.
Maken told reporters: "This tragedy of three young girls dying of starvation could have been averted had the AAP government strengthened the public distribution system, midday meal scheme (and) mohalla clinics, fulfilled the promise of serving meals for Rs 10 through Aam Aadmi Canteens and provided employment to the poor."
He added: "The deputy chief minister has bought a luxury car (Fiat Chrysler Jeep) worth Rs 20 lakh and three innocent girls die (of starvation) a stone's throw from his constituency office."
