Mayor holds residents responsible for diarrhoea

Taking note of several cases of diarrhoea being reported from Fatehgarh Mohalla, mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria visited ward number 33 on Tuesday. The health team of municipal corporation (MC) and district health team also accompanied him.

After visiting street number 2 and 3 particularly from where diarrhoea cases were reported in abundance, the mayor held the residents responsible for the outbreak of diseases.

“The residents are accountable for the contaminated water that they are drinking. They have installed waterpipes through sewerage manholes. With time, the pipes get rusted and start leaking, leading to mixing of sewage with the water,” the mayor said, adding that the water supplied to the area was potable and thus the MC should not be blamed.

But when questioned on ensuring proper installation of water pipes, he admitted that junior engineers (JEs) and sub-divisional officers (SDOs) of MC didn’t perform their duties well, and thus action would be initiated against them.

Raghbir Singh Bira, councillor of ward number 33, claimed that more than 400 people in the area suffered from diarrhoea as against the 13 patients reported by the health department.

He said he himself admitted many patients in the nearby hospitals, adding that contaminated water supply was the reason for diarrhoea cases and demanded that RO systems be installed.

He also accused the MC and medical teams of inaction and said the teams visited the area only when he complained to the Chief Minister’s Office.

MAYOR QUESTIONS DOC
The mayor first visited the Mata Vaishno Dharamshala in the locality, where a health department’s team was conducting a medical He questioned the doctor present there regarding the type of patients approaching him, following which Dr Raj Kumar answered that most patients complained of mild fever, vomiting, stomach ache and other ailments.

When the mayor asked the reason for these ailments, as these could be primary symptoms of diarrhoea, Dr Kumar remained mum.

Gohalwaria later visited street number 2 and 3 of Fatehgarh Mohalla and drank the water supplied by the MC to prove its purity.

When the residents complained of dirty water, the mayor said they themselves were responsible for it and ordered Dr Charanjit Uppta, health officer for MC, to collect water samples.

District epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma, who accompanied the mayor, said regular camps were being run in the area, and on Tuesday, 14 patients were examined, out of which three had mild diarrhoea.

Rest complained of fever, headache, stomach ache and other ailments. With three more diarrhoea cases on Tuesday, of ficial count of diarrhoea cases has reached 13.

‘CONTAMINATED WATER ALSO CAUSING CANCER’
Are a councillor Raghbir Singh Bira said due to contaminated water supply in the area for several years, many residents were now suffering from cancer. He said in the past few years, seven cases of cancer were reported in the area, out of which five patients had succumbed to the disease.