If the government cannot help us save our children, at least give us the right to end our pain through euthanasia.” This desperate message, addressed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, was written a week ago by Mahadu Belkar, the father of 15-year-old Tanesh Belkar, one of the 67 children across the state suffering from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare progressive neurological disorder. In his letter, Belkar highlighted the unbearable agony, as a parent, of having to watch helplessly as one’s child suffers endlessly and the abject hopelessness in the absence of support from either the state or Central government.

"We do not wish to see our children suffer every single minute of the day. They are in pain, unable to move or speak, while we, as parents, are forced to watch them die slowly. If the government cannot help us save them, then at least give us the right to end our pain through euthanasia,” Mahadu Belkar’s letter to Fadnavis reads.

Apart from the words of sympathy from a few officials, he hasn’t received a response.