When
Ashish Kumar, 22, got a high fever, his family members immediately took him to a
medical camp that was organised in his village. When the doctors confirmed
Ashish had Malaria, his family got worried because two people had lost their
lives because of an unknown fever in his village in the past one month.
Ashish
lives in Pairua village in Gondlamau block in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district,
which is barely 80 kms from the state capital Lucknow. In the past one month,
more than 19 people have died in the nearby villages where Ashish lives. More
than 50 people have died in Pairua village alone.
While
30 people have died in Sitapur district, around 2,000 are suffering from this
unknown fever. Last year too 50 people died due to an unknown fever in
Gondlamau block in Sitapur district.
The primary reason behind this unknown fever is the unhygienic conditions in which
these villagers live.
When
asked what leads to people dying in these villages soon after the monsoon, Dr
Dheeraj Mishra, health officer at Gondlamau primary health centre, said: “19
people have died in the past one month. Around 100 are suffering from Malaria,
while 35 have been diagnosed with Typhoid. These villages are in bad condition.
Mosquitoes and heaps of garbage are the main reasons behind these deaths.”
People
have been dying in Gondlamau block for the past three years. When the Gaon Connection
team visited these villages, there were heaps of garbage everywhere, even near
the handpumps. The drains were overflowing and full of filth.
“Most
of the patients are coming from these villages. Mosquitoes and dirty water lead
to diseases like Malaria and Typhoid,” said Dr Mishra.
According
to a report published by the Central government, in 2014, around 11.2 lakh
people died due to Malaria. In 2015, this number stood at around 10 lakh, but
in 2016 it again went up and touched 11 lakh.
Villagers
have been complaining to the authorities about the unhygienic condition
prevailing in their villages, but no one comes to clean up. “We wrote many
letters to the authorities. These days we are even sending daily reports to the
government, but nothing happens after that,” said Dr Mishra.
Saroj
Devi, 45, lives in Saidapur village, which is next to Pairua village. “It’s been
a week that my son is unwell. We got medicines from the government hospital,
but they are not working. We live in unhygienic condition. No one comes to pick
the garbage up or to spray mosquito repellents,” she said.
Clearly,
the cleaners have not been doing their job, though the government pays them Rs
22,000. Not just that, every gram panchayat gets Rs 10,000 and a committee is
responsible to clean all the villages before the arrival of monsoon.
Ram
Vilas, a resident of Pairua village, blamed the village head Sushil Kumar for
the deaths occurring in his village. “We requested him many times, but he is
not bothered. He does not even live here. He lives in Sitapur and visits once
or twice a month.”
Dr
Vikas Singhal from the health and family welfare department in Lucknow visited
these villages and reprimanded the village heads for not getting the villages
cleaned. Dr SK Kumar, a doctor, informed, “Most of the villages are dirty. The
cleaners and health workers have been asked to get the work done.”
In
2018, when Gaon Connection had visited Sitapur after many people had died in
Gondlamau block, Dr Rajkumar Nayyar, the chief medical officer who was visiting,
has pointed out that the villagers were living in unhygienic conditions.
One
year later, in 2019, the situation hadn’t changed. When he visited the villages
this year, he said: “Many people are falling ill. We met many patients who have
Malaria. There are many patients who are suffering from unknown fever. We are
spraying mosquito repellents in these villages. We are requesting these
villagers to keep their surroundings clean. No one has died of Malaria as yet.”
It’s
third year in a row that people are dying in Sitapur, just 70 kms from Uttar
Pradesh’s capital Lucknow. None of the authorities visited these villages last
year after 19 people had died.
Inder
Narayan Singh, district Panchayati Raj officer, said: “Many village heads are
not bothered about maintaining cleanliness. We are making teams and visiting
these villages. We are pulling up those village heads who are not working.”
Kesan,
who lived in Pairua village, was the only earning member in his family. He died
on August 6 due to an unknown fever. He is survived by his wife and three
children. His eldest daughter Pinki, 12, said while holding her father’s
passport size photo in her hand: “He suddenly got a fever and was breathless. We
took him to Sitapur. They asked us to take him to Lucknow, but he died on the
way. I don’t think I would be attending school anymore. I will have to stay back
and do household work.”
