With cholera reported from several districts in the State, the Opposition has come down heavily on the State Government raising questions over the claim that crores of rupees have been spent to improve health infrastructure in tribal and backward areas.
Criticising the Government for its failure to check outbreak of gastroenteritis which has become a regular feature in tribal areas, the OPCC has said the administrations should rise to the occasion or else the consequences will be disastrous.
Chairman of the OPCC media cell Narasingh Mishra alleged that the State Government had failed to utilise 70 per cent of the funds meant for tackling diarrhoea and dysentery. Though the Government claims to have spent hundreds of crores of rupees to improve health infrastructure in tribal areas there is no improvement in the situation, he said.
Describing the State Government as inefficient and corrupt, Mishra referred to the report of the CAG which pointed out that Rs 108 crore, meant for drinking water supply, could not be utilised. The Congress leader said malnutrition and intake of contaminated water are main causes behind the spread of diarrhoea, dysentery and other such diseases which take serious turn every year.
Mishra said the Government should be ashamed of the poverty which was exhibited in Cuttack district recently. Rice rejected as unfit for human consumption was taken away by hungry people in Cuttack district. If this is the situation in one of the developed regions of the State, one can well imagine to what extent poverty prevails among people in backward areas, he added.
The BJP too strongly criticised the State Government for its failure to check cholera every year. This has exposed the Government’s negligence towards primary health sector in the State, BJP spokesman Ashok Sahu told this paper. Stating that the State Government should have taken precautionary measures in epidemic-prone areas before the rainy season, the BJP leader alleged that primary health centres (PHCs) in rural areas do not have adequate staff to deal with the situation.