The Hindu : New Delhi News : Now Capital in grip of cholera

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Now Capital in grip of cholera

Staff Reporter

50 cases have been reported in the past one week The main reason behind spread of this water-borne disease is supply of contaminated water and sale of cut-fruit

NEW DELHI: Even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the State Health Department officials are trying hard to check the spread of the meningococcal meningitis in the Capital, yet another deadly disease - cholera - is slowly taking the city in its grip, causing concern among citizens.

Already around 50 cases have been reported from different parts of the Capital during the past one-week, of which 10 cases were reported on Sunday. Though the MCD Health Department officials agree that so far over three-dozen cases have been reported, but sources say the figure might be much high as many cases are yet to be reported by various government hospitals.

The MCD officials say that there is no need to panic as they have already started taking measures to check the spread of cholera in the city. They also point out that last year in May, 281 cholera cases were reported and the figure this year was much less and the situation was well under control.

During the past five days, cholera cases have been reported from almost all of the 12 municipal zones with the maximum number of cases coming from the Central zone (11 cases) followed by South zone (5 cases). Similarly, two cases each have been found in Sadar Paharganj, Shahdara (North) and Najafgarh zones, while one case each has been reported from City and Civil Lines zones.

The main reason behind spread of this water-borne disease is supply of contaminated water and sale of cut-fruit. Interestingly, an internal report of the MCD on the current situation raises serious question marks over the quality of water being supplied by the Delhi Jal Board. The report states that of the 43 water samples tested by the civic body, 20 were found to be contaminated and unsafe for drinking. The maximum number of contaminated samples was tested in the Shahdara (South) zone.

Leak in pipelines

Similarly, the MCD report states that there were 147 cases where sewage was contaminating water supply due to leak in pipelines, but so far the DJB has managed to take action in just two-dozen cases, aggravating the problem.

The civic body authorities have asked the DJB authorities to take immediate action on the same and intensify checking of the quality of water being supplied so that spread of cholera and other water-borne diseases could be checked.

Meanwhile, the MCD officials claim that their special drives to check spread of infectious and water-borne diseases was going on well, and so far over 1,000 raids have been conducted and almost 2.5-lakh kg of cut-fruit has been destroyed. Similarly, action have been taken against unlicensed water trolleys and as many as 500 of them have been impounded from various parts of the Capital.

However, sources in the civic body say despite the health officials' claim, the ground situation was alarming as sale of cut-fruit and sugarcane juice was going on unchecked. Similarly, unlicensed water trolleys can be seen operating in different parts while the state of cleanliness in busy markets, colonies and congested areas, particularly in disease-prone zones like Walled City, Sadar Paharganj and Shahdara (North) remains pathetic.

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