The water-borne disease jaundice has again spread panic among residents of Cuttack city. This time, the outbreak of the disease has started haunting the people even during winter, much before the onset of summer.
According to official sources, at least 25 cases of jaundice have been identified at Sikharpur of the city; and the disease is attributed to contaminated drinking water supplied to the households through broken pipes.
Residents allege that although officials of the civic body were aware of the broken pipes in the area for over a fortnight now, no effort was made to change the pipes or supply of potable water through tankers.
While 15 cases of jaundice were reported in the area by Monday, ten more cases were identified in last two days, forcing the civic body officials and people’s representatives to rush to the area. Water samples were collected for examination while steps have been taken to replace the broken pipes on a war footing manner.