Puri, Dec.18 : The “Drink from Tap” Mission launched in Puri by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in July has received a jolt as scores of families living close to the Sri Jagannath temple are suffering from water-related diseases like diarrhoea, bowel troubles.
Puri was the fourth town in the world to have the Drink from Tap mission, authorities claimed.
Although unconfirmed reports claimed the death of two including a woman from the affected area due to diarrhoea, the district public health authorities denied it by saying the woman had gynecological problems while the octogenarian male died at his home.
According to Dr. Amarendra Rath ADMO, since December 11, 28 diarrhoea patients from the affected area got admitted into Infectious disease hospital (IDH) till Saturday.
He said already 27 of them were discharged after treatment. No new patient has been admitted since Saturday, Rath said.
After reports of a breakout of diarrhoea the district magistrate, health authorities and doctors visited the areas. Health workers visited residents of Baseli Sahi and Gochhikar lane and enumerated the persons suffering from diarrhoea.
One medical relief centre (MRC) has been opened in the affected area where the residents having stomach trouble are being provided medical care. This apart, 50,000 Halazon tablets have been distributed among the residents to purify their drinking water, Dr. Rath said.
He said apart from contaminated drinking water diarrhoea could be caused by the consumption of spurious food and lack of sanitation of hand.
The damaged drinking water pipe in the Sri mandir parikrama corridor has been replaced. Of the nine water samples taken from the area for testing seven has negative results while two with moderate status Dr. Rath added.
To contain the spread of the disease, overhead water tanks and domestic water storage facilities were disinfected while drinking water is being supplied by water tankers.
As per guidelines, the quality of drinking water used to be tested in the lab. The first phase water test certified the pipe water is fit for human consumption while the second phase was scheduled for this month, he said. .
The Drink from Tap mission has been launched under the Sujal Dhara scheme by the Chief Minister through virtual mode after a nine month pilot project executed in the town.
According to Bhabani Mohanty, the PHD executive engineer at present we are providing about 49 mld water to the town. This apart two hundred drinking water fountains were installed in various parts of the town.
Most of the residents of 32 wards of the town were given pipe water connections benefitting 2.5 lakh residents and visitors.
Mohanty said the PHD has a mobile water testing unit and a full-fledged modern lab for regular checks.
“As per need, we test water samples at 24, 48 and 72-hour intervals. The recent test of the sample has been found negative,” the executive engineer said.
With the launching of the Drink from Tap project, the officials had claimed that Puri became the fourth city in the globe after London, New York and Singapore to achieve this goal.
