Tired of representing their case to the state and the Central government, a group of locals in eastern Uttar Pradesh, led by local volunteer Dr R N Singh, have decided to place an example before the government by developing “encephalitis-free villages” through community participation.

Instead of pleading for funds or support from the government, the locals will themselves form self-help groups to spread awareness about ways to curb the disease like preventing stagnation of water and getting fogging done in high-risk areas.

Singh had recently written a letter in blood to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with other prominent leaders. But no concrete step has been taken in this direction either by the state or the Central government, he said.

The team has decided to adopt five villages — one each in five encephalitis-affected districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. With the help of community participation, these volunteers will try to implement all preventive measures in these “model villages”.

“In the last four years, we have done a number of things to draw attention of the government towards the basic issues related to the preventive measures to control the spread of the disease,” said Singh, Convener, Encephalitis Eradication movement in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

“Despite all our attempts, the government only wakes up when the season of deaths begins in Purvanchal,” added Singh.

The team has already identified Haliya village in Kushinagar district and as per the survey done by the volunteers, not a single child has been vaccinated in the entire village so far.

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