Folic acid debacle SIVASAGAR: The Sivasagar district unit of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today staged a three-hour protest at Doul Mukh Charali in Sivasagar against ‘folic acid poisoning’, in which several hundred girls in Sonitpur and Darrang districts fell ill after consuming the folic acid tablets distributed free in schools under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme. More than a hundred activists of the student body, led by its Central organizational secretary Sarat Hazarika, Sivasagar district secretary Pranab Chetia, Sivasagar regional general secretary Samiran Phukan, Sivasagar sub-divisional president, Pulin Das and general secretary, Ranjan Konwar took part in the protest demonstration. While talking to The Sentinel, Sarat Hazarika said, “The Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government has celebrated its first anniversary of the third consecutive term with pomp and show and sung songs of development in the State. However, several hundred girl students fell sick after taking iron folic tablets provided under NRHM recently. This is the development the Gogoi-government has made so far.” Criticizing the State government for the ineffectiveness in bringing overall development in the State, Hazarika asked, “Who will be held responsible? Whose negligence is this? And will the guilty face the music?” Condemning the incident, the student union has demanded the State government punish the manufacturer of the tablets and ask them to pay compensation to the affected students. From our Staff Reporter DIBRUGARH, May 28: Members of the All Dibrugarh Students’ Union (ADSU) took part in a sit-in-demonstration in front of its office here today, to protest against the recent incidents of school students falling sick after taking folic acid tablets. More than three hundred students in the State were taken ill after consuming folic acid tablets last week. They had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment. However, instead of admitting the lapse on the part of the heath Department and NRHM, the Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said, the students became ill after taking the tablets in empty stomach. Criticizing the statement made by the Health Minister, the Assistant General Secretary of AASU, Rituparna Baruah, said that the Health Minister was trying to brush off the incident with a shallow justification. He castigated Sarma for failing to give due importance to such a serious issue and instituting an inquiry. “He is trying to safeguard the interests of the pharmaceutical companies supplying the tablets. Maybe this is because he has some understanding with them,” Baruah alleged. (EOM)