Contaminated water sources and the virtual absence of health care claim dozens of lives in the State, now in the grip of cholera. COME monsoon and the backward regions of Orissa are in the grip of water-borne diseases. This year too has been no different. According to official figures, 150 people had died of cholera and diarrhoea in the State as on September 15. Unofficial reports put the toll at more than 250. The reasons for the recurring phenomenon are not far to seek: contaminated water sources and the virtual absence of health care. To make matters worse, a large number of posts of doctors and paramedical staff in government hospitals are lying vacant. According to officials in the Health and Family Welfare Department, cholera deaths were reported from Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Keonjhar districts. A sudden increase in the number of deaths was noticed in early July. The number has been growing steadily since then, with Rayagada being the worst hit. The official death toll in the district was 40 as of mid-September; unofficially it was 115. Significantly, 49 sanctioned posts of doctors in Rayagada are lying vacant. Many deaths in inaccessible areas in the affected districts have not been officially recorded. A large number of those who are affected are tribal people who live in hamlets that have no approach roads. Safe drinking water is still a dream for thousands of families here who fetch water from forest streams and rivulets. The fact that there are scores of defunct tube wells in the interior areas of the State speaks volumes about the callousness of the administration. Even as water-borne diseases spread to new areas in the second week of September and deaths continued, the Naveen Patnaik government claimed that the situation was under control. Even as Oriya television channels aired visuals of tribal people crying over the bodies of the dead and people carrying the sick to hospitals in distant places, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya paid a two-day visit to Rayagada district, on September 14 and 15, to take stock of the situation. On the first day of his visit, two more deaths were reported from Taladal village of Kashipur block in the district. As in the past years, the State government woke up from its slumber only after the media started reporting diarrhoeal deaths from different parts of the State and the Regional Medical Research Centre in Bhubaneswar confirmed the incidence of cholera in Rayagada. The government apparently paid little attention to the centre's advice on the measures required to avert an outbreak of cholera. The suggested measures included chlorinating drinking water sources in areas prone to contamination and providing drinking water closer to workplaces of the people, said a senior researcher at the centre. The Chief Minister held a meeting to review the situation. Teams of doctors were sent to the worst-hit areas in the district. The government announced an incentive of Rs.200 to people who would bring cholera patients to hospitals at night. Review meetings Review meetings were held at various levels, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were urged to help in the process of providing medical attention to people. Efforts were also made to carry out an awareness campaign to make people adopt hygienic practices and draw water only from disinfected wells and tube wells. But the government came under fire from the opposition parties as many tube wells still awaited repair in the worst-affected blocks of Rayagada district