10 years old Zabina Kousar & her grandmother Jatti Begum laid to rest in Badhaal

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL

SHYAM SOOD

**Deaths due to unidentified disease: Deputy CM & Health Minister to visit village on Saturday.

**On 2nd consecutive day Epidemiological team collects samples from the area.

RAJOURI JAN 17:-On Friday hundreds of mourners joined the Namaz e Janaza rites of Jatti Begam (60) years w/o late Mohd Yousuf and Zabina Kousar (10 years) d/o Mohd Aslam in Badhaal village of Rajouri district.

Mohd Yousuf was died on Monday in GMC Rajouri.Following wide criticism of lackadaisical attitude of the government in handling the situation and neglecting the poor people of this remote area in this n hour of need, Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Choudhary and Health & Higher Education Minister Sakina Itoo have to visit village Badhaal on Saturday morning.

With the deaths of Jatti Begam on Thursday in AH GMC Rajouri, the death toll due to unidentified disease has risen to 16.Meanwhile, a high-level team of doctors and scientists on the second consecutive day visited Badhaal on Friday and collected samples of neighbours of Fazal Hussain (35) who was the first victim of this unidentified disease and died in GMC Rajouri on December 7.

Within two days of his death, four minor children of Fazal Hussain also succumbed to unidentified disease in hospitals at Rajouri & Jammu.

A pall of gloom has descended on Badhaal village and after 16 deaths the terror has gripped the entire area and inhabitants of this remote area are now avoiding visiting each other’s house.
“No minister of the present government has visited this remote village since December 7, Only local MLA Javed Choudhry extended helping hand to these poor people in this hour of need” , said local residents.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Rajouri, ML Rana said that another Epidemiological team, consisting of doctors and scientists from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), along with experts from PGI Chandigarh and Chennai, headed by Assistant Director NCDC, has reached Rajouri.

The team during another survey will try to find the reason behind deaths by taking samples & performing surveillance.

It is pertinent to mention here that recently Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo in a high-level meeting informed that experts said that deaths in Badhaal are not caused by any disease however, certain neurotoxins were found in the samples of those who died over the past one month.

On Wednesday Health Minister Sakina Masood Itoo said the deaths were not due to any disease and the district administration and police would hold an investigation to ascertain the reason behind the deaths.