1 more death due to cholera in Maharashtra, residents protest

Expressing resentment against Solapur Municipal Corporation for failing to control the cholera epidemic, aggrieved people here today carried body of a person who died of cholera to the office of the municipal commissioner and kept it there for hours as a protest.

Anand Adki (32) breathed his last at the civil hospital today taking the death toll due to the epidemic to 15.

People raised slogans and also demanded arrest of the SMC commissioner Ranjitsinh Deol as the administration has failed to cope up with the epidemic for about two weeks.

Sensing the seriousness of the incident, police commissioner Bhushan Kumar Upadhaya, collector Jagdish Patil and Deol convened a meeting to discuss the issue.

The mob agreed to take the body of Adki for final rituals only after the police commissioner Uapdhaya assured that he would look into the matter.

The number of gastro and cholera patients in the town has gone up to over 3,000 due to the contaminated water being supplied at the slums.

Recently, chief minister Ashok Chavan had sent two ministers Laxmnrao Dhobale and Fouziya Khan to take stock of the situation and promised the people that the epidemic would be brought under control. But there has hardly been any improvement in the situation, locals said.