At least four residential colonies have been affected by the contaminated water in the Indian state of Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur.
Over 350 people were taken ill on Saturday after drinking the contaminated water in the government’s water pipes. The Tribune of India is reporting that 60 people, including 18 children, were taken to three major hospitals in the city. One child, an eight-year-old girl, was dead on arrival.
The Asian Age writes that several days ago, a few people in the communities of Ganesh Vihar, Mangal Vihar, Shankar Colony and Mahesh Nagar reported getting sick, with abdomen pain and profuse vomiting after drinking the water.
A number of people said the problem was reported to the water supply department five days ago, yet nothing had been done. “A team from the department came but didn’t bother collecting water samples. it declared that the water was clean,” they alleged.
After arriving at one hospital where an angry crowd had gathered, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister Kiran Maheshwari and Health Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore admitted the illnesses were caused by dirty water, but, Maheshwari blamed the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) for the problem.
“During a road construction by the JDA a pipeline got damaged and there is the possibility that dirty water from the nearby drainage ditch got into it. However, the real cause would be known only after receiving the investigation report of water samples,” she said.
With this incident, the true plight of so many of the people in Jaipur has come to light. Not having clean drinking water has been an ongoing problem. Maheshwari had a meeting with department officials and demanded that water be checked all around the city and insisted that there better be people in the field doing their job.
Meanwhile, there was a large demonstration against the increasing number of deaths from dirty drinking water. PCC chief Sachin Pilot expressed dismay over the number of people getting sick because of a lack of clean water, adding that in Banswara, children and school teachers fell ill after eating unhygienic food served for their lunch.
