Annual public health report of the Province of Bihar.

  • Bihar (India). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1940]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual public health report of the Province of Bihar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER II. Fairs and Festivals. A number of melas are held every year in the different parts of the pro* vince where large number of people, usually exceeding 60,000 assemble. Besides these, there are innumerable melas of local interest which are held in different months of the year and are attended by the inhabitants of the districts in which they are held and those of the adjoining ones. Three melas, namely the Pitripaksha mela held at Gaya, Harihar Chhatra at Sonepur and Bhadra Purnima at Deoghar have more than local interest and attract a large number of visitors from the other provinces of India. These melas have mostly a religious significance. The collections of such a large number of people in fairs and melas have been frequently respon- 8ible in the past for the outbreak and spread of cholera in the province. But with the growth of public health organisation in the districts and the provi¬ sion of adequate sanitary arrangements, the risk of cholera breaking out at these pilgrimage centres has been much reduced during recent years. Pro¬ tected water-supply and arrangements for the quick removal of refuse and filth have been important factors in controlling and checking the outbreak of cholera at the melas. The Sonepur mela.—The Sonepur mela which is considered to be the largest cattle fair in the world was held during the year from the 10th November 1940 to the 24th November 1940 and the principal bathing day fell on the 14th November 1940. Over four lakhs of people visited the fair on the principal bathing day and on average about one lakh camped in the mela area during the whole period. 37,509 animals wrere brought for sale in the mela areas ; of these 600 were elephants, 2,450 horses, 33,813 cattle, besides 60 camels, 42 goats and 500 birds. 232 prostitutes camped in the mela area this year as against 249 in the previous year. The whole mela area, as in the previous years, was divided into three sections—for the purposes of sanitary arrangements—one doctor with a suitable staff of sweepers, doms, road cleaners, sanitary jamadars and a health inspector was placed on duty in each section. A doctor was also placed on epidemic duty at Fahlezaghat and one on general epidemic duty in the fair. The Health Officer, District Board, Saran, was on duty from the 10th to the 24th November and the Assistant Director of Public Health, North Bihar CitCle, camped in the mela from the 11th November to the 23rd November. The Director of Public Health, Bihar, visited the mela area on 15th November and inspected the various sanitary arrangements made there. Special sanitary arrangements, as in previous years, were organised by the Saran district board health staff under the immediate guidance of the Assistant Director of Public Health, North Bihar Circle. Six Government epidemic doctors wrere also deputed for mela duty to work in collaboration with the board’s health staff. This staff worked hard to maintain the general sanitation of the mela by the prompt removal of ail filth and other sources of nuisance from the area and took adequate preventive measures against infec¬ tious diseases, specially cholera. 32 cases of cholera in all occurred in the mela area and all of them were immediately removed for treatment to the temporary cholera hospital and of these only one died wffiile the rest were discharged as cured. The permanent district board dispensary at Sonepur and the temporary Isolation Hospital, and the three temporary dispensaries, one in each section remained open from the 10th to the 24th November to treat cases of sickness during the mela period. An ambulance doli was posted in each section at the dispensary to carry cases suffering from infectious diseases to the Isolation Hospital. Adequate arrangements for the supply of protected water to the people existed throughout the mela period. The main drinking water-supply, as in previous years was made available from the Sonepur Government Water- supply which consisted of four deep tube-wells each yielding about 4,000 gallons of water per hour. 40 permanent stand-posts and 19 overhead tanks each having 8 taps and 65 temporary stand-posts were also put up to make the supply uniformly available throughout the mela area. No definite scarcity of wrater was felt in the Hathisar area. But on the crowded days of the mela, a shortage was noticed between the Nakhas and the temple areas and water was also found to be flowing at a very low pressure in the Bailhatta areas and this caused general shortage of drinking water in that area, specially on the bathing day. The whole water-supply and all the 62 wTells belonging