Govt responsible for cholera deaths in Kalahandi: CPM

The Pioneer, Sept 7, 2007
Pioneer News Service | Bhawanipatna

The State Government is fully responsible for the increasing number of deaths due to cholera in the Gram Panchayats of Adri, Gopinathpur and Maligaon in the block of Thuamul-Rampur in Kalahandi district, said CPI(M) team that visited the area on Tuesday to assess the real cause behind the outbreak of the epidemic.

The CPI(M) team comprised party leader Ali Kishore Pattnaik, party district secretary of Kalahandi Naba Pattnaik and other party members.

The leaders collected information as to how cholera broke out during their discussions with the people in different villages of the Gram Panchayats.

In a Press release, the CPI(M) team alleged that the lack of basic requirements such as food, drinking water and jobs under the various schemes like BPL, APL, Annapurna, Antodaya and NREGS has resulted in the outbreak of the epidemic in the region.

They also alleged that the health centres and the sanitation system in Thuamul-Rampur block were non-functional.

The block has a Community Health Centre, a new Primary Health Centre and 16 health sub-centres, which should be manned eight doctors, but there were only three doctors posted. A large number of tube-wells have become defunct, as a result the district administration had to provide alternative methods to supply drinking water to the villages. Parents are scared of sending their children to the school due to the epidemic.

During their visit to a school, the CPI(M) leaders found that only 29 out of the total 203 children attended the school, the release said.

Meanwhile Rural Development and Industries Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan visited the cholera-affected villages in Ardi Gram Panchayat under Thuamul-Rampur block in Kalahandi district. He directed officials to provide 30 tube-wells, 20 sanitary wells two mobile health vans in the area, besides asking the district administration to immediately undertake construction of a large bridge, three small bridges and a 37-km concrete road connecting Adri, Gopinathpur and Maligaon Gram Panchayats.