Other States - Orissa   

NGO calls for coordinated approach

BHUBANESWAR: Though non-governmental organisations have done little to help the cholera-affected blocks of Kasipur and Dasmantpur of Orissa so far, a conglomerate of NGOs on Tuesday blamed the district administration for its failure to mobilise the civil society organisations to help the cholera-hit population.

Sanhati, a federation of 65 NGOs in the State, said that the death toll due to cholera in Rayagada and Koraput districts till date was more than 250.

A four-member team that visited the affected areas from August 31 to September 3 said in a statement that it was an epidemic and would spread if rain continues.

The incident should be declared as a disaster and immediate attention should be provided on the basis of the Relief Code, the Sanhati statement said.

The organisation further said that the disaster was mainly due to the lack of work/employment, scarcity of food, health services, potable water and other civic amenities and failure of the social service schemes, including the Annapurna and Antodaya.

The statement also blamed the district administration for not implementing the social security programmes and other welfare schemes.

Observing that there had been no cholera since 1987 because of the coordination between the government organisations and NGOs to tackle this kind of disaster, the organisation said that at present the district administration was “deliberately avoiding the involvement of NGOs” working in the region.

As per the observation of the team, as of Tuesday the district administration had not been able to convene or coordinate a consultative meeting to mitigate the disaster in a coordinated manner.

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