JEYPORE: Health and sanitation works in Jeypore Municipality have been seriously hit by absence of a municipality health officer. The post has been vacant since 2017. Although the Assistant District Medical Officer (ADMO) Arun Padhi is holding the additional charge of health officer of Jeypore Municipality, he is unable to focus on the job due to his other assignments.
Jeypore Municipality is the biggest civic body in undivided Koraput district with a population of over 1.5 lakh spread across 28 wards. It has around 290 sanitation workers and two health inspectors but there is no monitoring of their day to day work.
The post fell vacant after the then health officer was transferred in 2017. Since no new appointment was made, the administration gave charge of the post to Koraput ADMO. However, managing the additional post is getting difficult for Padhi who attends the municipality office for two hours in the morning and heads to his office in Koraput, 25 km away, daily.
In the absence of proper supervision, sanitation workers do not clean the roads and drains on daily basis leading to mounting heaps of garbage throughout the town. There are over 200 food kiosks and 50 hotels in Jeypore serving vegetarian and non-vegetarian food but 90 per cent of these eateries operate without licence.
Fast food items are prepared using stale meat, unclean water, harmful food colours and poor quality oil and the sub-standard food has led to diarrhoea and other health issues in the past. But, the civic body has no control over sale of these food items in the absence of health officer. Although food inspectors are expected to prevent sale of unhygienic food, they rarely do so.
Even as the members of Municipality Council and citizens committee of Jeypore have been demanding posting of a health officer on permanent basis, no step has been taken so far. Chief District Medical Officer KP Behera assured to take up the issue with the higher authorities.