Two ruling party members cornered the Health Minister Amar Agrawal over poor sanitary conditions and deaths due to jaundice in Raipur city in the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Wednesday. Dissatisfied by the reply of the Health Minister, the Opposition Congress members staged a walkout. Ruling party member Devjibhai Patel raised the issue of poor sanitary condition through a Calling Attention Motion in the House.
He alleged that the drains of Raipur city are clogged and chocked with garbage. The water supply lines are damaged and thousands of people are infected with jaundice. Health Minister Amar Agrawal refuted the charges and said that only 328 people of different wards of the city have tested positive of jaundice and only two deaths have been reported. Devjibhai Patel claimed that more than 25 people have died of jaundice in Raipur city and asked if the Minister will lodge FIR against the Municipal Commissioner of Raipur city for negligence.
Agrawal explained that the Raipur Municipal Corporation has 3000 employees. Although the work of cleaning was given to a private company for some time, the company’s contract was terminated following unsatisfactory performance. There is no need of FIR against anybody, he said. Patel once again claimed 25 deaths due to jaundice. Agrawal asked him to provide evidences. Patel sought assurance from the Minister that he will take action against the concerned officer if the former proves himself.
Congress member Satyanarayan Sharma too alleged that drains are not cleaned properly. leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo also supported Sharma and said that he earlier believed that Ambikapur had poor sanitary conditions but when he observed Raipur city, he found it dirtier than Ambikapur. BJP member Shrichand Sundrani in the supplementary question challenged the Health Minister’s reply on jaundice deaths in Raipur.
He claimed that at least 10 persons have died of jaundice in his constituency. The BJP member said that he was facing wrath of people due to this. Agrawal asked Sundrani to present death certificates and he is ready to take stern action. The Congress members accused the Health Minister of giving incorrect information and staged walkout.