The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Residents blame BWSSB for outbreak of gastroenteritis

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Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Residents blame BWSSB for outbreak of gastroenteritis

Staff Reporter

242 treated as outpatients at BMP hospital

Manholes have not been cleaned for the past six months
BWSSB admits to a possible water contamination

BANGALORE: It was perhaps the busiest day in a long time for the skeletal staff at the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Maternity hospital in Bharathinagar.

Following complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting owing to water contamination in the area, doctors at the hospital have been working overtime, diagnosing and treating over 300 people. The hospital received as many as 242 out-patients on Monday alone.

Everybody from the doctors to nurses have been working round-the clock, with even the support staff diligently distributing pamphlets in Kannada and English to spread awareness about gastroenteritis.

In a sanitised ward at the hospital, Jeevendra lies crouched in pain. A resident of First cross Bharthinagar, the medical supplier has been suffering from extreme weakness and dysentery for the last three days. “It is surely the water I drank,” is all that he manages to utter.

Dilshad Begum, a resident of Fruit Street, awaits her turn to stock-up on drinking water provided by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) tanker, which is now providing water to the area after supply was cut off on Sunday, following reports of contamination.

She says: “In the past two days, there seems to be no family in the area which does not have at least one person who has fallen ill.” Her son, Mohammed Rafiq, pitches in to say that his father, sister, brother have all taken to bed, complaining of stomach ache and vomiting.

Mohammed Azaam, her neighbour, points to his one-year-old daughter Rabia and says, “She has been ill for the past three days and has barely been able to get out of bed. If only the BWSSB had cleaned the manholes in the area regularly, we would not have had to face any problems.”

In a bylane along Thimmaiah Road, people crowd around The Hindu team which visited the area, complaining of how manholes had not been cleaned for the past six months. “Earlier, we used to all pitch in money and get the manholes cleaned ourselves. But six months ago, they placed concrete on the road and covered up all the manhole covers. Since then, it has been difficult to find any labourer to clean it up,” said A. Ravi, a resident of Bharthinagar.

Faced by criticism from the public, the BWSSB has taken to cleaning the manholes and trying to plug any sewage leaks.

On Monday, the board admitted to a possible water contamination as the “roads in the area are very narrow and the sewerage lines and drinking water pipelines were laid side by side,” a press release said.

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