The UP government may lose vital Central assistance of over Rs 1800 crore as it has failed to put in place the guidelines set by the Union government to set up paraphernalia to combat the dreaded Encephalitis that has claimed thosuands of lives in eastern UP during the last five years.
"We are running against time. If the UP government fails to finalise the proposal about allocation and utilization of Central funds, then the Union Government might stop the funding. And if it happens UP will lose over Rs 1800 cores," an official told 'The Pioneer' in lucknow on Monday.
When questioned about the delay, the officer was in a fix to explain and instead curtly suggested : "Go and ask the Health minister. Unless he asks us we can not proceed in this matter." He also hinted at the blow hot-blow cold relationship between the ruling SP in UP and the Congress at the Centre which has put the project under cloud.
The Centre had approved projects over Rs 4038 crores for the prevention and control of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Accute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). This plan is expected to be implemented in five states of UP, Bihar, TN, Assam and West Bengal - but the focus of the scheme was on UP and therefore over one-third of the funds was expected to be spent in 23 Encephalitis affected districts of the state only.
The Union government agreed to finance anti-Encephalitis campaign in UP after Union Health minister Gulam Nabi Azad visited Gorakhpur in October last. He went to Baba Raghav Das Medical College and witnessed the plight of encephalitis patients and interacted with their kin.The officer said that the Centre has sought a proposal from the UP government overthe allocation and use of funds.
The proposal would be discussed and passed at a meeting of senior Union ministers after which funds would be finally allocated.
Azas's ’s visit sparked a series of meetings between the UP and Union governments but after January a lull descended. The Centre had asked proposals for construction of paediatric intensive care unit and 100-beded hospital in BRD College, Gorakhpur. As AES spread through contaminated water, UP was asked to set up public latrines in each village.
With the UP government failing to respond, Union Health Secretary, PK Pradhan wrote to Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani asking him to appoint nodal officers at state and district-levels for effective execution of the plan. In a knee-jerk reaction Special Secretary (Health) Rishikesh Bhaskar dashed a letter to Principal Secretaries of Medical Education, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Social Welfare, Public Works Department, Gram Vikas, Education and Rehabilitation departments to appoint nodal officers at the earliest.
Now, the Chief Secretary has set a deadline for completion of pending projects and instructed officers to ensure that paediatric intensive care unit became functional by July this year. Besides, Health officials have been asked to complete vaccination of 30 lakh children by June end. The government has also set the time line for construction of 1.80 lakh toilets. Thousands of people, specially children, have died of Encephalitis over the years. Though JE is a mosquito-borne disease and spreads after the onset of monsoon, the AES spreads through contaminated water. Encephalitis leads to swelling of brain leading to the death of the child.
In UP, the killer disease affects a vast population of Deoria, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Mehrajganj, Basti, Sant Kabirnagar and Siddharthnagar. Some cases have also been reported from Bihar and neighbouring Nepal.
