Water not only reason behind spread of jaundice, says Govt

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: Spread of jaundice in different parts of the State is not because of contaminated drinking water, Urban Development minister Pushpendra Singhdeo told the Assembly today.

Replying to queries from concerned members of both ruling and opposition parties, the minister said the government has chalked out plans to provide pure drinking water to people throughout the State.

“Water samples are being tested on the basis of 17 parameters. Soon, all residents of all NACs, municipalities and panchayats will be provided with drinking water,” the minister empasised.

However, the Opposition was not satisfied with the answer and there were some noisy scenes in the House over the issue.

During Question Hour also, some members raised the issue of people facing health disorders due to drinking water mixed with fluoride in some parts of the State.

At least 12 people tested positive for jaundice today taking the total afflicted in Cuttack city to 116.

Health secretary Arati Ahuja along with revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) and district collector today visited the affected areas to monitor the drinking water facilities, drainage system, sanitation and hygiene of the city.

Collector Nirmal Mishra said over 500 water service connections in the city were identified to have broken pipelines and over 200 of those have already been replaced. Efforts are on in war footing manner to replace all broken pipelines, he added.

"The drinking water pipelines are over 30 years old and most of them are passing through drains," Mishra said adding that free health camps are opened in the affected areas where the urine and blood samples are tested freely and the affected persons are given free medicines.

Similarly, the ASHA and Anganwadi workers are moving door to door in Mangalabag and Jobra areas distributing free halogen tablets and asking the residents to boil water for ten minutes or more before drinking. They are also distributing leaflets demonstrating the symptoms of the disease and its prevention.