The jaundice outbreak in certain pockets of Raipur city has assumed political colour now with both the BJP and the Congress trading charges against each other. The reason behind the issue assuming political colour is Mayor of Raipur city Dr Kiran Mayee Nayak belonging to the Congress.
As a result, the BJP corporators held a demonstration in front of the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) headquarters here while holding the Mayor responsible for jaundice outbreak, while the Congress party’s Raipur district workers led by Raipur City Congress Committee (RSCC) president Vikas Upadhyay staged a sit-in at the worst jaundice-affected DD Nagar while holding the ruling BJP Government responsible for not controlling the spread of jaundice in the affected wards.
The Congress workers tried to take credit of the RMC’s new pipeline lying work in the DD Nagar area, claiming that the Rs5.5 crore worth of pipeline project was started only after their agitation. Upadhyay also threatened to intensify the agitation if the garbage littered around in the DD Nagar area is not cleaned up within three days. According to Upadhyay, their agitation was completely ‘non-political’ and intended for providing relief to the residents of the DD Nagar area. He said that the lapse in duty by RMC and other departmental officials resulted in the death of an engineering student who was affected by jaundice.