Bhubaneswar, June 6 (IANS) A woman died of hunger in Orissa's Deogarh district after her impoverished husband failed to get food for her for about six days, a media report said Tuesday.

The woman, Bharati Bhuyan, was living at Deogarh town with her husband Amin Bhuyan and their four minor children. Amin, who collected firewood from the nearby forest and sold it for a living, did not earn enough to feed his family, the Oriya daily Samaja reported.

Bharati, 28, was ill for many days and Amin could not afford a doctor.

The financial condition of the family was so poor that Bharati could not get food for the last six days, the paper said quoting her husband.

She died Monday while her husband was away to collect firewood, the paper said.

Local officials and police rushed to the spot and sent the body for post mortem. District collector Raj Kishore Jena has refused to comment on the death, the paper said.

Orissa's western districts of Kalahandi, Koraput, Bolangir and Deogarh are considered to be some of the most economically backward areas of the country.

Hunger deaths were first reported from Orissa in 1965-66, when a drought in Kalahandi and Koraput districts led to a famine that claimed around 1,000 lives.

Unfortunately, the situation has not improved over the decades. People in the region continue to die of hunger even as the country makes rapid strides in other fields.