Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over the State Government's status report on jaundice outbreak and directed the chief secretary to file another report on the steps taken to check the disease's spread. The chief secretary filed the status report following court directions and also expressed sincere apologies for not complying with or carrying out its directions.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan directed the senior officer and other respondents to file the follow-up action and status report by May 3, the next date of hearing. The bench had taken up media reports on the supply of contaminated water in Shimla as a public interest litigation.
The media reports said that water from the Ashwani Khud water treatment station, which is supplied to one third of Shimla's population, is contaminated with sewage. Most jaundice cases in Shimla were reported from Chhota Shimla, Panthaghati, Vikas Nagar, New Shimla and Kasumpti, a health officer said.
In 2007, 2010 and 2013, a large number of people in the city tested positive for Hepatitis E, a liver problem caused by consumption of water contaminated by sewage. Planned for a maximum population of 16,000, Shimla is now home to 170,000 people as per the 2011 Census and generates 30.09 million litres of sewage per day.