Post News Network
Bhadrak, Feb 23: Residents of the town are in panic over the looming threat of jaundice as the drain water has been mixing with the drinking water supplied through pipes at several locations here for the past several days.
Even as locals had lodged a complaint with the water supply department, it has failed to yield any result. “While the department is spending lakhs of rupees in the name of repairing of the pipes, leaked drain water continue to contaminate the source of drinking water,” a resident of the town said.
Mixing of drain and drinking water has been going on for several days at Januganj, Sarkar Baba Chhak and at Chandan Bazaar because of the broken pipeline, while a defunct switch valve results in mixing-up of sewage and pipe water at Sangat Chhak bridge of Garadpur.
Moreover, there is no facility in place at pumping stations to disinfect the drinking water.
According to reports, the overhead tank of the district headquarters hospital has not been cleaned for a long time.
Residents allege that the executive officer and the concerned engineers are often found absent in their seats when they try to lodge complaints. “Residents near Chaitanya temple at Kuansa have been deprived of safe drinking water due to a mix-up of drain and pipe water,” Niranjan Sahoo of Kadambabeda village said.
The locals have also complained that the health department is not bothered to check the quality of the foods served to customers at the food joints, make shift hotels and gupchup shops in the town, making the town extremely vulnerable to the outbreak of jaundice.
However, the officials say that the department has taken necessary actions regularly. “The department is well prepared in the wake of jaundice scare and we can prevent the disease with awareness”, CDMO Ramesh Mohanty said.
“Water is being collected from users at regular intervals and bleaching powder is added when ever required,” Ratnakar Sial, assistant executive engineer of public health department said.
