Govt rejects Rahul's AIDS survey plea

[Guest guest]

Govt rejects Rahul's AIDS survey plea

Manjari Mishra

[ Thursday, February 09, 2006 01:07:43 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK

LUCKNOW: Bill Gates proposes, Mulayam Singh Yadav disposes. An AIDS

intervention project in Rahul Gandhi's Amethi constituency, to be

supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been turned down

by the Uttar Pradesh government.

It seems that after the much-hyped aerial fogging duel with Rahul

last September, Yadav is once again guarding his domain

from 'meddlesome Dilliwallas.'

" We have been trying to push the project for the last six months but

the only response so far has been stiff resistance, " Congress

sources said on Monday.

The idea for the programme came from the Amethi MP himself, after a

random check in the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital at Munshiganj

which caters mainly to Gandhi pocket borough of Sultanpur and Rae

Bareli.

Taking note of the rise in HIV+ patients, Rahul decided to initiate

an awareness campaign in the area. On July 12, 2005, a proposal to

this effect was sent by Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust administrator

Manoj Muttu to the principal health secretary and the UP AIDS

Control Society chairman.

The proposal said, " It is seen that a large number of patients

coming to the hospital happen to be migrant labourers, who work in

other states.

The Trust sees these patients as potential cases for AIDS and is

deeply concerned that all possible methods be adopted to generate

awareness of the problem in the area. "

" We had approached the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for

assistance in this respect. They had conveyed to us their

willingness to support an AIDS control programme in the area,

provided a proper survey was carried out and exact statistical data

was available.

They also required sanction of the state government to go ahead with

the survey, " the letter said. It ended with a request to the UP

government " to grant permission to the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation for the conduct of survey in the districts of Rae Bareli

and Sultanpur. "

A senior Congress leader told TOI that the state government chose to

sit over the proposal for three months before turning it down. Muttu

was told that the state government did not warrant the need for such

a step in the area mentioned.

However, sources said Rahul Gandhi has not abandoned his attempts,

adding that a detailed proposal has already been prepared to be

faxed to the UP government.

" What Rahul has in mind is to begin a pilot project in Sultanpur and

Rae Bareli and then gradually cover the entire eastern belt of

Gorakhpur, Basti, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Deoria, Siddharthnagar as these

are the key districts from where migrant labourers go to Mumbai, " a

source said.

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