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People In Bihar Have Discovered New Method To Register Their Protest Over Lack Of Development Work

People in Bihar have discovered a new method to register their protest over lack of development work in their areas they have begun boycotting the Pulse Polio Immunisation Drive. Initially, only a few villages boycotted the programme but now many more are joining them. Polio cases have registered an alarming increase and in only the past three months, as many as 99 new cases have been reported from across the state, said to be the highest in the country.

Officials said the move to boycott the polio drive to protest against lack of development was first taken by residents of Sugauna village in Madhubani district. The villagers flatly refused to participate despite repeated requests by the civil surgeon, Dr Biltu Paswan who visited the village with a team of health officials a couple of days back. According to Dr Paswan, the village has boycotted the last few rounds of the campaign.

Villagers want the local administration to provide a school, water and other facilities before they let their children get immunised. The village has about 150 houses and is dominated by Muslims.

"The villagers just refused to listen to us when we reached there after getting information about boycott of the polio campaign. They demanded development work from us for which the district administration, not us, were responsible. Imagine our plight but still we talked to the district magistrate and conveyed their (villagers') demands to him", Dr Paswan told The Statesman over phone today.

But the civil surgeon found merit in the demands. "Their demands are just. There must be at least a school and some hand pumps in the village", said Dr Paswan. He had also spoken to the legislator of the area and asked him to take up basic development work, Dr Paswan added.

By siddharth22, Section News
Posted on Wed Apr 02, 2008 at 02:35:11 AM EST

Village Pathra in Saran district too has announced boycott of the polio campaign until development work is taken up. Yesterday, hundreds of Scheduled Caste families stopped health department staff from administering polio drops to their children. Villagers have also decided to boycott all official programmes until authorities construct a proper road, and provide water, power and education to their children.

It is learnt that villagers refused to budge from their stand despite appeals by a local BJP leader. About a month ago, villagers had prevented government staff from spraying DDT.
Bihar is said to have the highest number of polio cases recorded this year. The battle against polio is proving difficult for the World Health Organisation and Unicef in the face of such obdurate adversity.

Official reports say that 25 of the total 38 districts of Bihar are in the grip of polio. Last year, Bihar accounted for just under a half 396 out of 864 of the polio cases reported in the country.

Source:http://www.thestatesman.net,02-04-08

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