A majority of residents of Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras Ahmedabad and Bangalore feel that the outbreak of plague in Surat could have been restricted to that city if the Central government had taken prompt and effective steps for prevent it from spreading.
According to an opinion poll conducted for The Times of India by MODE on October 4, covering 1,570 people, 78% share this view, while 22% believe that it was impossible for the Center to contain the epidemic.
Fifty-three per cent of those polled considered the plague outbreak a natural calamity, possibly because it came in the wake o the earthquakes and floods that have ravaged that region. Forty-seven per cent attributed it for human negligence.
There have been complaints about the horrible state of civic amenities in Surat, failure of the powers that be to heed warning signals and the lack of budgetary support for health schemes. However, people on the whole did not appear particularly unhappy with the handling of the situation by the authorities once the epidemic spread to other areas, Fifty-five percent fell the steps taken 10 pre~ vent the spread of the dreaded disease were adequate, while 45% considered them inadequate, Similarly, 52% were satisfied with the. treatment provided to patients. Sixty-one per cent of those covered by the survey, which interviewed a little over 25Qadults: in each city, were of the view that foreign countries overreacted 10) the plague outbreak, while 39% felt that their reaction was justified.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 14, 1994
