Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who also holds the Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolio, will work in concert with the Union Health Ministry and prepare an action plan to subdue the menace of Japanese Encephalitis raging in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Ramesh noted that encephalitis continued to inflict most parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh due to poor sanitation and lack of potable water, pigs being the prime vector for the spread of the infection through Culex mosquitoes.
He emphasised the need to put in an action plan to avoid deaths next year.
Mr. Ramesh directed Vilasini Ramachandran, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, to set up a team of experts in consultation with the Health Ministry with a mandate to visit the area, talk to the people and prepare an action plan within a month.
Mr. Ramesh said he would talk to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on his return from Geneva.
