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Journalism of Courage
GUWAHATI, June 25: The Assam Government on Wednesday ordered a high-level inquiry into the large-scale deaths of tea plantation workers in the three upper Assam districts of Jorhat, Sibsagar and Golaghat due to gastro-enteritis which has assumed epidemic proportions.
Official sources said here on Wednesday that the State Government has vested the responsibility of the investigation in the hands of the commissioner of the upper Assam division and asked him to submit his report within ten days.
According to the terms of reference of the order, the commissioner is required to go into the background of the outbreak of gastro-enteritis in the tea-growing districts for the past five years, fix responsibilities and also suggest measures to prevent further outbreak of the water-borne killer disease.
Meanwhile, official reports have already put the gastro-deaths in the State during the past five years at 1493, apart from 143 during the current year.The highest number of 52 deaths have been reported from Jorhatdistrict alone, and State Health Minister Dr Kamala Kalita, who reviewed the situation earlier this week, has asked the tea companies to step up measures to tackle the situation. The health Minister has also gone on record saying that there was a lack of safe drinking water in the tea plantations while the hygienic conditions were also far from satisfactory.
The Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) meanwhile has said that the actual death figures could be much more, and complained that both the government as well as the tea garden managements were trying to supress the actual figures.
