BJP stages walkout over govt's reply on Shimla jaundice

Dissatisfied with Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Minister Vidya Stokes' reply on the issue of the jaundince outbreak here, the Opposition BJP today staged a walkout from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly and demanded her resignation.
The BJP had given adjournment motion on outbreak of jaundice in Shimla and adjoining areas but Speaker B B L Butail allowed discussion under rule 130 after the Question hour.
Blaming the IPH department and the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the outbreak, BJP MLA Suresh Bhardwaj said, "It was matter of shame that Queen of Hills, Shimla had come to be known as 'Peeliawaali Rajdhani'. People were supplied the drinking water which was contaminated with sewage water."

He said the location of the Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) in Malyana near the Ashwani Khad was improper and this should have been considered when the plant was set up in 2005.
Bhardwaj referred to the letter sent on December 23 last by the District Programme Officer, NHM in Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, wherein he had informed the Commissioner, SMC that cases of jaundice were surfacing and that water contamination should be checked.
Demanding resignation of Stokes, Bhardwaj asked the government to declare jaundice as an epidemic, keeping in view the number of patients and deaths.

Dedicated wards to the jaundice patients in IGMC must be provided, proper sewerage system must be ensured in Shimla and compensation should be given to the victims, he said.

He also asked the IPH minister, Urban Development minister and the Mayor of SMC to own the responsibility and step down from their positions.
Leader of Opposition, Prem Kumar Dhumal too came down heavily on the state government and said the action against officers was taken selectively based on regionalism.
While Congress MLAs including Anirudh Singh, Rajesh Dharmani, Kuldeep Kumar, Rohit Thakur said jaundice occurred during BJP regime also but no immediate steps were taken to control the situation.
Intervening in the debate Health Minister, Kaul Singh Thakur said the blame game would not help and the government is pro-actively taking steps by inter-departmental coordination.

He said 1592 cases of jaundice had been reported from Shimla so far, out of which 578 were found positive.
He said his department was fully cautious and had written to the Shimla MC on December 23 regarding rise in jaundice cases and the steps to be taken thereof.
On January 2, the Director, Health held a meeting of the committee constituted for the purpose and asked the IPH authorities to stop the Ashwani Khud supply.
Stokes said the government would take every step to bring the water supply to normalcy and would release funds for streamlining of STPs in Shimla.

Terming the walkout as "pre-planned", Chief minster Virbhadra Singh said, "I condemn the cheap politics.