An elderly homeless man, who was found in severely exhausted condition in Srirangapatna on Wednesday afternoon, died at the government hospital there.
According to the Srirangapatna town police station sources, the man was found in front of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, was shifted to a rehabilitation centre, and later rushed to the hospital as he was suffering from health ailments. He might have come from some other place to Srirangapatna, said the sources.
Starvation?
While the local residents say the impact of the 21-day countrywide lockdown for combating COVID-19 made him to suffer from starvation for some days, officials said he had stopped eating because of cancer.
It appears as if he had not eaten anything for the past few days. None noticed him as people have stopped visiting the temple because of the lockdown, the local residents said.
The town has many homeless people. They commonly visit/stay around the temples seeking food from the visitors. However, they are not getting food in the prevailing situation.
The man was shifted to the rehabilitation centre immediately after noticing him. He died of cancer, M.V. Roopa, Srirangapatna tahsildar, said.
Assistant Commissioner (Revenue, Pandavapura subdivision) told The Hindu on Thursday that the district administration is committed to provide food and medical aid to such people.
"We will visit areas around temples to search for such people and provide food/shelter. We have already shifted some destitutes from Pandavapura railway station and other places," she said.
