Colony residents made to drink contaminated water from hand pumps

Outbreak of a water-borne disease is a strong possibility in Rajiv Gandhi colony of Focal Point area as the residents here have no option but to consume contaminated water. The water being drawn from a hand pump is visibly contaminated as it is orange in colour.

Over the months, there has been a rise in the stomach-relate ailments in the colony. Out of precaution, some of the residents get drinking water from the railway station, which is nearly 2 km away.

One of the dwellers, Suresh Tiwari said that two members of his family were bed-ridden due to stomachache and the doctor had advised to consume boiled water. Another colony dweller, Bikram Singh, said, "Cooking gas and kerosene is expensive and we can't afford to boil water. We can't also go to the railway station to fetch water for drinking and cooking. Recently, I fell sick and had suffered from a stomach infection last year". He said that the hand pump water was so contaminated that one's hands get oily when used for washing.

Another resident, Manoj Kumar, claimed that most of residents had voter cards and ration cards. "The hutments have metered electricity connections, but the residents still don't get safe drinking water," he said.

Ram Adhar, another resident, said that he goes to Dhandari Kalan railway station daily to fetch water. He said that most of the labourers who stays in the colony don't have time to fetch water from the railway station and are forced to use the hand pump water. Dr Dinesh Gupta of gastroenterology department of Deepak Hospital, said that residents could suffer from gastroenteritis, diarrhoea,viral hepatitis, general infections and other diseases by consuming contaminated water.

District epidemiologist Dr Puneet Juneja said that officials would be sent to the colony to take stock of the situation on Monday. Joint commissioner, municipal corporation, AS Sekhon said that the civic body would take steps to ensure that the colony resident got safe drinking water.