Letters to the Editor

Contradictory Facts - NRC

There have been reports of harassment to a section of people of minority community in the name of updating National Register of Citizens (NRC). Taking this issue, certain quarter is vociferously raising a hue and cry fearing that many names of citizens would be excluded. But along with all the conscious citizens of Assam, we want that no name of any dubious citizens infiltrating into Assam through the porous Bangladesh border after the stipulated date should figure in NRC, irrespective of whether the infiltrator is a Hindu or a Muslim. Simultaneously, it is noticed that in a good number of cases many indigenous citizens are also harassed. Certain such appalling cases meanwhile have been published in your esteemed daily. The latest case that we come across is worth mentioning here. One of my sisters-in-law (Santipara, Dibrugarh) was informed by the NRC authority to proceed to Biswanath Chariali for verification with relevant documents. Can it be possible for a septuagenarian ailing from Arthritis and Hypertension to carry out the order of NRC authority? This example is only a tip of the iceberg. As the infiltration from across the border still goes on hoodwinking the vigilance of BSF, we wonderas to how a section still tries to back them. These unscrupuous citizens in their desperate bid try to ensure entry of their names in NRC by fowl means. In the process many are caught, while some are not.

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh

Encephalitis Creating Havoc in India

This has the reference to the news “Japanese encephalitis, take heavy toll” (The Sentinel, April 30, 2018). In this regard it may be mentioned here that the deaths of scores of children in a Gorakhpur hospital have put the focus on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) but these deadly diseases have been creating havoc in UP and other states for years.

As per the data on the website of the Directorate of National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), since January 1 to August 13 in 2017, 1208 cases of AES have been reported in UP, and of these 152 resulted in the death of the patient. In the same period 112 cases of JE were reported in which three lives were lost.

According to the data, JE has been taking a heavy toll on Assam — the worst ever in the country. Assam has been badly affected where 1534 cases of AES were reported, and 128 patients lost their lives. The state reported 482 cases of JE of which 67 resulted in death, as per the data.

Overall 5,926 cases of AES have been reported in the country till August 13 in 2017 of which 406 deaths have been reported. The country also witnessed 93 JE deaths in 2017, out of 903 cases reported in the same year.

According to Additional Director, Health, Dr. Pushkar Anand, 139 deaths of patients, mostly children have been reported from the paediatric ward of state-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College, in 2017 in UP. Six cases of deaths were reported from August 12 to August 14, in 2017. In UP, the most severely affected districts are Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthanagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Deoria and Mau.

NVBDCP data reveals that in 2010, UP reported 3540 cases of AES, which claimed 494 lives. In 2015, as many as 479 lives were lost due to AES of which 2894 cases were reported. JE claimed 42 lives from the 351 reported cases, according to the official data. In 2016, 3919 cases of AES were reported in which 621 lives were lost.

As a matter of fact, AES and JE are creating havoc and many people have been dying every year in our country. The NDA Government must take some effective measures immediately to control these deadly diseases, otherwise the mortality rate of our country will increase further.

Satish Kumar Sarma,

Kalyanpur, Biswanath Chariali.