The district administration here has pulled all stops to check the spread of jaundice in the town where a majority of the population lives in the walled city and where the problem of sewerage water getting mixed with drinking water is all pervasive.
The outbreak of the disease in the last couple of days has now forced health officials to take extra-ordinary preventative measures. The day 42 people died of gastroenteritis four years ago still rings alarm bells among doctors and officials although a permanent solution to fix the broken water pipes still eludes them.
The outbreak occurred after residents were forced to drink contaminated water following the rupture of water pipes at several places particularly in the heavily populated areas of the walled city.
A high level team under the leadership of Komal Mittal, Assistant Commissioner, stationed itself in the civil hospital throughout the day.
Gurdaspur civil surgeon Dr R.S Randhawa, Batala SMO Dr Sanjeev Bhalla and epidemiologist Dr Prabhjot Kaur Kalsi toured the worst effected areas and distributed chlorine tablets.
Komal Mittal claimed that the situation was under control. “ Teams have fanned out in the walled city where free medicines were being distributed. Health pickets too have been set up,” she said.
The authorities, it seems, wake up only when an outbreak of water borne disease occurs. Four years ago, officials had egg on their faces when despite repeated proclamations that the water and sewerage pipes were being rectified, a bout of gastroenteritis hit them in the face. CM Parkash Singh Badal at that time had announced that the decade old potable water pipes would be repaired but four years down the line precious little has been done for the tax paying residents.
“Water is considered essential for life. But in Batala, it has become the cause of rising waterborne diseases-jaundice and gastroenteritis-which have witnessed a whopping increase over the last couple of years following the Municipal Committee’s failure to provide clean drinking water. If the water is contaminated due to leakages, it causes jaundice, Hepatitis A & B and typhoid as well. For this, the MC should ensure that water supplied through pipe lines remains clean,” averred a city based doctor.
The residents will have to live with the problem of broken and rusted pipes as funds are not forthcoming from the state government. local MlA Ashwani Sekhri claims that in the last four years he had been crying hoarse trying to bring to the attention of the state government the grim reality of how people in the walled city are surviving. “All my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. It has become a crime these days to become a democratically elected representative of the people as nobody listens to you,” said a livid Sekhri.