Panipat slips from top to 17th in sex ratio at birth

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, December 3

The district has failed to maintain its top position in sex ratio at birth (SRB). Yamunanagar leads with 938 girls per 1,000 boys and Jhajjar is last with 862 girls per 1,000 boys, according to data available up to October 31.

Panipat district was on top with 945 girls per 1,000 boys in 2017. It slipped to 17th position in data up to October 31 this year.

The district was known for skewed sex ratio before 2015. The turnaround came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme from Panipat on January 22, 2015.

The SRB considerably increased after the programme launch. It was 892 in 2015 and 912 in 2016. The district notched the top spot in 2017. The district not only lost the top spot, but also failed to make it to the top 10 districts during 10 months this year.

Dr Sudhir Batra, PCPNDT nodal officer, and teams had in 2016 raided 28 private hospitals and nursing homes for conducting sex determination tests and 42 medical stores for selling MTP kits illegally.

In 2017, the teams raided 16 private hospitals and 46 medical stores. Dr Batra later relinquished charge and Dr Munesh Goyal was appointed the PCPNDT nodal officer.

Only six raids had been conducted — three each on medical stores and quacks — up to October 31 this year. Health officials had now given charge to Dr Batra again.

Dr DN Bagri, Civil Surgeon, said change of the PCPNDT nodal officer and vacant post of Civil Surgeon in the last few months were behind decline in the SRB.

“The reasons have been identified and Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Batra has been appointed the PCPNDT nodal officer again. We have started raids on violators and will try our best to reclaim the top position in a short time,” he said.