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Diarrhoea death toll rises to 10
Our Correspondent

Yamunanagar, September 13
Death toll due to the outbreak of diarrhoea has risen to 10 and nine persons have been hospitalised so far.

According to Mr Naresh Sharma, Civil Surgeon, preventive measures have been taken to control the spread of the disease. He said a team of doctors and para-medical staff had been deputed in all affected colonies which include, Jaswant Colony, Ravi Nagar and Vijay Colony.

Dr Sharma said out of nine persons who had been admitted to the hospital five were children and two women. He said the patients who had been admitted today in the local Civil Hospital were Pratibha (13), Pinki (7), Nitin (4), Lokesh (28), Shivam (3), Archna (1) and Pushpa (22). He said two persons named Veer Bahadur Singh (34) and Koken (26) were admitted to the Civil Hospital at Jagadhri today. The Civil Surgeon said 39 persons had been hospitalised in the local Civil Hospital, four in Civil Hospital, Jagadhri, and 12 in ESI Hospital.

A 65-year-old Nanku of Vijay Nagar who died of diarrhoea was cremated today. However, the medical authorities were unaware of the death and refused to comment on it.

Senior officials of the Public Health Department, Mr R.K. Trehan, the Superintending Engineer, Mr S.K. Khanna the S.E. (Headquarters), Mr N.K. Chaudhary, the Executive Engineer reached the affected colonies.

The officials said the situation was under control and added that the epidemic had broken out due to illegal water connections. These connections should either be cut or regularised properly after completing the formalities. The public health officers said the Haryana Government had introduced scheme in 2003 in which all illegal connections were to be regularised after depositing Rs 2,500 with the department. Not a single resident of these colonies had regularised his connection so far.

Mr Vijayendra Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, said today that the situation was under control and steps had been taken to prevent the disease from spreading further. He said the samples had been sent to the bacteriological laboratory in Karnal for testing.

Cong leaders seek relief for diarrhoea victims
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 13
Mr Bhajan Lal, chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, and Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Leader of Opposition, have, in separate statements, expressed concern at the death of people in Yamunanagar.

Mr Hooda said failure of the government to take preventive action had led to the outbreak of diarrhoea in Yamunanagar. While offering his sympathies to the families of victims, Mr Hooda said that the government must take steps for handsomely compensating the families.

Mr Bhajan Lal said he was greatly shocked to hear the news of death of 20 persons of diarrhoea on September 12, and that more than 250 people, affected by the disease, were struggling for their lives in various hospitals of Yamunanagar. He said the disease broke out due to gross negligence on the part of the Public Health Department. The state government also never bothered to keep watch on the functioning of the department, Mr Bhajan Lal said and added that the government must institute a probe into the incident and also extend financial help to the affected families.