The Indian Express              17.07.2013

Civic body alerts all public, private hospitals

MERS belongs to the same family as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and has so far spread in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as several European countries.

According to Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar, the civic body has already notified all public and private hospitals to stay alert. "We have asked hospitals and dispensaries to stay vigilant and take cases of common cold, flu, shortness of breath and respiratory problems seriously. In case the patient has travel history to Saudi, he is immediately supposed to be isolated."

The samples of H1N1 or suspected unusual cases will be sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing.

According to BMC's epidemiology cell chief Dr Mangala Gomare, so far no guidelines for treatment of the disease have been sent by the government. Mhaiskar said they will receive the treatment guidelines shortly. "There is no reason to worry as of now but we will take all precautionary measures," she said.

According to Dr Sagar Sakle, spokesperson at Bombay Hospital, chances of Haj pilgrims contracting the virus are higher since hordes reach India from Saudi, which is the epicenter of the virus.

The Hindu             17.07.2013

BMC corporators demand wards’ reconstitution

Staff Reporter

Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demanded reconstitution of its wards as per the 2011 Census.

The corporators of the BMC have passed a resolution in support of their demand. They have also decided to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue, according to BMC Commissioner Ajit Mishra.

It may be noted that elections for the BMC is likely to be held this year. There are three municipal corporations in the State -- Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, and Cuttack.

Number goes up

Meanwhile, the wards of the BMC have been reconstituted. Earlier there were 37 wards in the BMC. After the reconstitution, the number of wards has increased to 40. But complains have poured in from all major political parties regarding the reconstitution of wards. Even the present BMC Mayor S.S. Dash has expressed his dissatisfaction over reconstitution of wards. Former Union Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu, who was the chairperson of the municipality in the past had also objected to the reconstitution of wards.

The objections are regarding area, population as well as reservation of wards as per the census of 2001. Some Congress corporators have also decided to approach the court of law against the ward reconstitution and reservation.

It is felt that the recent reconstitution of wards of the city as per the 2001 Census does not reflect the proper representation of the present city populace. It may be noted that in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack municipal corporations, there have been similar protests against demarcation of wards as per the 2001 Census. Most of the corporators of the BMC were of the opinion that 2011 census report should be teh basis for demarcation of wards in Berhampur Municipal Corporation.

Not in uniform

As the recent demarcation of wards is as the per 2001 census, the wards are not uniform in nature. Some of them have around 3000 voters while in some other wards the number is more than 7000 voters.

Apart from it, the wards are also not in series as per their boundaries. But some corporators like Ashok Shukla are of the opinion that the recent resolution of the BMC is a delayed one.

“This resolution should have been passed much earlier and sent to the government for timely action,” he has said.

A resolution has been passed in support of their demand and the corporators have decided to meet the Chief Minister on the issue.