Congress slams Bihar govt over encephalitis deaths

The Congress Monday hit out at the NDA government in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the deaths of more than 100 children in Muzaffarpur due to the outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome.

The Bihar Health Department has put the total number of AES casualties across 20 districts at 152. These include the 130 deaths reported at the two Muzaffarpur-based hospitals, which have been admitting AES patients from nearly half a dozen districts in its proximity.

"BJP's double engine government and Mr Misgovernance's Bihar government are directly responsible for the killing of scores of children in Muzaffarpur," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted in Hindi, referring to the NDA government and the chief minister.

"Under Integrated Child Development Services, the budget of special nutrition programme was halved. The budget for children of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has also been drastically cut down," he said.