Sixteen SUVs which the Union Health ministry had provided for its vector-borne disease control programme — to be used for surveillance purposes — have become a bone of contention between the ministry and Bihar government after a Central inspection team on a recent visit to the state found that only five of the vehicles had been given to the districts while the rest were being used by the Health department in Patna.

With six more deaths reported from several areas today, the toll in the powerful earthquake rose to eight in Bihar, official sources said.
While Darbhanga accounted for four deaths, one each was killed in Nawada, Nalanda, Bhagalpur and Sheorhar districts.

Alto gether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar health minis- ter Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed on Wednesday.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthal- mologists, he said.

PATNA: Altogether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed.

The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthalmologists, he said.

Even as the Bihar government has declared 26 of its 38 districts as drought-affected, several parts of Darbhanga, Madhubani, Saharsa and Supaul districts have been facing flood, affecting over one lakh people. Over 100 houses have been washed away in Supaul and Saharsa because of Kosi water flooding the fields.

Two children, including an infant, died after being administered vaccines in a Bihar village, health officials and parents said Tuesday.A 20-day-old boy died Monday, a day after he was administered DPT and BCG vaccines in Kamrauli village of Darbhanga district, about 200 km from here.

M.J. PRABU

Good catch: Ashok Singh in his fish farm at Madhubani district in Bihar.

The grit and determination with which some of the farmers who have succeeded despite the odds against them has served as a valuable guide for others.

A Nepalese community radio station has become the only source of news for flood-hit villagers in Bihar's Darbhanga district. Radio Janakpur is a popular station for people in Bihar's Darbhanga