The increasing number of cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has had the Cabinet Secretary stepping in. In a bid to take stock of the situation the Cabinet Secretary will hold videoconference with the state chief secretaries tomorrow.
Senior officials from the Union health ministry and officials from ministry of drinking water and sanitation and department of animal husbandry will also participate in the discussions on Japanese Encephalitis with the cabinet secretary on the side lines of video conference with the state chief secretaries.
“The virus involves both-pigs and there are sanitation issues too. The related ministries have therefore been called so as to review the situation in abetter way,” sources said.
Transmitted by mosquito bites, the infection has, so far has killed 388 people with total 2592 cases in Uttar Pradesh alone. Other than playing a havoc in Uttar Pradesh, it has affected Assam too-which so far has reported 1,319 cases and 250 deaths. Bihar also has reported 288 cases and 54 deaths along with Delhi which for the first time recorded five cases of Japanese Encephalitis.
Sources say that cabinet secretary will discuss the queries that the states may be having and the action taken by them to keep the situation under control.
As a part of one of the measures, the Union health ministry started vaccination campaign against JE in 2005. So far about 40 lakh children in seven districts in UP have been vaccinated. “In the affected area, children from 1-15 years have been given JE vaccination and those who above 15 years are being given the vaccination along with the booster dose of DPT,” an official said.
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‘Surface water top priority’
MANISH ANAND
New Delhi, Oct. 13
In a clear admission that the state governments have largely been spending funds under National Rural Drinking Water Programme for installation of hand pumps only, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday that a shift will be made in the 12th five-year Plan towards giving priority to surface drinking water, while expressing concerns at the widespread contamination of water with arsenic, fluorosis and iron in eastern and Central parts of the country. The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal under which three per cent of the total NRDWP fund of `9,750 crores amounting to about `300 crores would be allocated to state government for water quality monitoring purposes.