MUMBAI, MARCH 23: Public Health Minister, Digvijay Khanvilkar, on Thursday announced in the State Legislative Assembly that strict action would be taken against the office-bearers of the gram panchayat at Mangaon in Raigad district for neglecting local sanitation, leading to outbreak of jaundice, which claimed four lives.Answering a calling attention motion moved by Shobhatai Phadanavis and others on the malaria and jaundice epidemics in Mangaon (Raigad), Chandrapur and Kolhapur, Khanvilkar said that the Government would issue notices to Mangaon gram panchayat and after due procedure would consider whether the panchayat deserved to be superceded.Khanvilkar said that four persons had died and 1,077 others were persons were suffering from jaundice in Mangaon. He further said that there was no case of any epidemic in Chandrapur or Udgir tehsil as claimed by the Opposition. He, however said that in Malkapur (Kolhapur district), 56 persons had been affected with jaundice.Answering queries from Phadnavis, Prabhakar More, Datta Nalawade and Sudhir Mungattiwar, who alleged that the water supply pipes at Mangaon had passed through gutters and that the gram panchayat had ignored it for the last six months, leading to the outbreak of jaundice, Khanvilkar said that special teams of doctors would be sent to the affected areas. He informed the House that the Government had sanctioned Rs 15 lakh for revamping the water supply and sanitation system of Mangaon.
