Puri: The ‘Drinking Sujal from the Tap’ mission, which aims to provide clean drinking water to the people of Puri town, has been decimated as diarrhea continues to spread in residential areas near the 12th-century Sri Jagannath Temple. It seems that this goal has not been achieved.
Last July, Puri became the first city in India to have a 24/7 ‘Drink from Tap’ facility. But five months after the mission was launched by Prime Minister Naveen Patnaik, his success is being questioned. Hundreds of people have been affected in Basseri Sahi and Gothikal Sahi, but unconfirmed reports say two people have died so far, including a woman, from water-borne illness. died at the district headquarters hospital and another woman in her 80s died at home.
However, district health officials denied reports that a woman had been hospitalized with a gynecological problem and that an older man was suspected of suffering from cancer. It said 28 people suffering from diarrhea have been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) since March 11. 27 of them have already been discharged. The patient has not been hospitalized since December 17.
People living in the area adjacent to the 75-meter Srimandir Parikrama project are alleged to have been affected by diarrhea after drinking contaminated tap water. Ongoing work on the Heritage Corridor project has damaged a pipeline that supplies water to the affected area.
After an outbreak of diarrhea near Slimandir, district collection workers, doctors and medical personnel visited the affected areas. A medical relief center was opened to treat the victims. Separately, 50,000 halogen his tablets were distributed to the population. Authorities have also replaced pipelines damaged by ongoing work on the Srimandir Parikrama project.
Dr. Rath said that apart from contaminated drinking water, diarrhea can also be caused by ingestion of unclean food and poor hand hygiene. Of the 9 water samples he had taken from the affected area, 7 were negative and 2 were moderate. Overhead tanks and domestic water storage facilities are being disinfected to stop the spread of diarrhea.
Executive Engineer, Public Health Department (PHD) Bhabani Mohanty said about 49 MLD of water is supplied to the town every day. Apart from this, 200 drinking water fountains are installed in various parts of the town. 139 fountains have been installed along Badadanda, but most of the inhabitants of his 32nd district of the town are already connected to the water pipes.
PHD has a mobile water testing unit and a full-fledged state-of-the-art laboratory for routine testing of water samples. Water samples are tested at 24, 48 and 72 hour intervals as needed, Mohanty said.
Since the launch of the mission, Puri has become the fourth city in the world to have clean drinking water directly from the tap, after London, New York and Singapore. However, with reports of diarrhea pouring in across town, it seems that much needs to be done to ensure that the initiative meets its objectives.
Emergency
People living near the 75-meter Srimandir Parikrama project suffer from diarrhea after drinking contaminated tap water
A medical relief center set up to treat disaster victims
50,000 halogen tablets distributed to residents
Authorities have replaced pipelines damaged by work on the Heritage Corridor project