New Delhi, March 18 -- India is set to take over polio surveillance activities from the World Health Organization (WHO) and hand over the responsibility to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), two people familiar with the matter said, citing directions to "dismantle" the 30-year-old joint programme that was instrumental in India eradicating the disease.

Till date, India's National Polio Surveillance Programme (NPSP) was headed by the WHO, and the country achieved its polio-free status in 2014 in strong partnership with the UN agency. The plan now is to hand over the work to India's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), headed by the NCDC.

Directions to this effect came from the finance ministry to the health minis...