Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: The state government has failed to contain the jaundice outbreak in Sambalpur city, the Congress and the BJP said Saturday.
Jaundice has already claimed 19 lives, while more than 2,000 people have been affected by the disease since May 2014.
Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan held the state government responsible for the spread of the water-borne disease.
If the government had acted quickly, the outbreak of the disease could have been prevented, said Pradhan, who visited the affected areas of Sambalpur Saturday. The disease would not have assumed epidemic proportions if preventive measures had been taken in time, he said.
“The state administration had knowledge about the contamination in water supplied to the residents of the city. Various organisations had also informed officials about this. However, the government did little and that has led to the present situation,” said Pradhan. Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan also blamed the state government.
“There are more than 5,000 people who have been affected by jaundice as they do not get pure water in Sambalpur city. This is because of the failure of the government. We ask the government to provide `10 lakh to the families of each of the deceased and compensation to the affected people who are not being treated in government hospitals,” said the OPCC president, who took stock of the situation and visited the patients admitted in various hospitals. However, health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the government is taking every possible step to arrest the outbreak.
