Anandapur: The number of kidney patients is steadily on the rise at Biridiha village in this sub division of Keonjhar district. Contaminated water is cited as the reason, a preliminary report by the health department confirms.
The disease has claimed seven lives in six months while over 30 villagers were affected, hospital and other sources said.
The local administration is taking steps to effectively intervene in the matter after complaints came that tube wells are releasing water with excess iron-content, which affected the kidneys of the local inhabitants.
The Biridiha villagers hope to benefit from a drinking water project that is currently in the pipeline. The project includes an overhead tank of 1.20lakh litre capacity to be built at a cost of over Rs 1crore.
The overhead tank will provide pure drinking water from a 400 to 500feet-deep boring. Steps are being taken to lay pipelines over a four to five km radius to provide water through stand posts. The construction work for the project will commence this week, officials said.
“This project is adjudged as among the major steps by the government as the village has over 1,700 voters with a population of 3,000,” observed Ramchandra Palei, an ex zilla parishad member.