Post News Network
Puri, Jan 11: Questions have been raised over the purity of drinking water supplied in lodging houses, hotels and dharmasalas in the holy city here after several tourists were reportedly taken ill after drinking contaminated water recently.
Tourists have accused the district administration of not taking the issue seriously and not taking steps to examine the quality of drinking water in hotels and lodges.
According to sources, of more than 700 hotels, lodging houses and holiday homes functioning in the city, only 490 are registered with the district administration. Most of these are supplying drinking water from their own resources as water supplied by the public health department is not enough to meet their requirements. The administration, however, has done little to check the quality of water supplied at these places.
Tourists have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water at these hotels and boarding houses. At least 50 tourists from West Bengal were down with fever and diarrhoea during their stay at Debirani Kutira at Renuka Street near the beach January 4. The tourists said contaminated drinking water at the lodging house was the culprit.
Similarly, 40 tourists staying at Haribhawan lodging house at Gaudabada Sahi were hospitalised with symptoms of diarrhoea January 7. Sources said the tourists developed health complications after drinking fake mineral water supplied by the lodging house owner.
Moreover, eight schoolchildren from West Bengal fell ill and were admitted to the infectious disease hospital January 8. They were staying at a lodging house at Gopal Ballav Road.
The district health department has collected water samples from these three boarding houses and sent them for examination. “A few tourists have allegedly developed health complications after drinking contaminated water in lodging houses. We have planned to collect the water samples from at least 10 boarding houses daily and send them for examination,” municipality health officer Badri Narayan Mishra.
PHD executive engineer Sidhir Kumar Samal said, “We are regularly examining the quality of water supplied by our department. But we cannot examine the water quality at private boarding houses.”
