A total 43,92,768 mosquito nets have been distributed to the beneficiaries across the State between 2009-10 and 2013-14, out of which the Centre has provided 38,01,668.
Sources said that all the mosquito nets distributed in the State were provided by the Centre during 2009-10 fiscal. However, not a single net was distributed in the State during 2010-11, sources said. The beneficiaries were given 19,02,668 nets during 2011-12 provided by the Centre.
In 2012-13, the DFID and the OHSP provided 3,65,300 mosquito nets to the State while the State Government purchased and distributed 2,25,800 during 2013-14. The mosquito nets provided by the Union Government, the DFID and the State Government were distributed in 200 blocks of the State. Over 50 per cent population was protected from mosquito bites by using nets in 127 blocks, sources said. However, no mosquito net has been distributed to the poor people since 2013-14.
The State Government had sanctioned Rs 70 crore for purchase of 33 lakh mosquito nets in 2014. The amount was given to the Odisha State Medical Corporation, which had invited tender for purchase of nets. However, it failed to purchase nets, the sources said.
On the other hand, International agencies, Global Fund for Malaria and TB & AIDS, were to provide 1.13 crore mosquito nets to the State Government through the Union Government. But uncertainty continued to prevail over handing over of the nets to the State Government.
While the Union Government had not provided a single mosquito net to the State since 2011-12, the State Government too has not purchased nets in the past two years. The mosquito nets, which were in stock in different districts, have now been sent to Malkangiri, where the deadly Japanese Encephalitis has claimed over 55 lives so far.