A parliamentary panel on Thursday rang the alarm bells over arsenic contamination of drinking water in the country causing “incurable diseases” that affect over seven crore people in six States, specifically in West Bengal, and questioned the Government and the State dispensation’s sincerity in dealing with the crippling problem.
Besides West Bengal, groundwater arsenic contamination is rampant in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, Assam, Manipur, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.
The Estimates Committee headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi expressed shock that the Government had done precious little to salvage the situation. Any mechanism to de-contaminate the ground water used for drinking is virtually non-existent, he said.
Joshi said in West Bengal “rice cultivation is full of arsenic and even the fish is contaminated.”
Arsenic intake causes serious ailments like hyper-pigmentation, keratosis, anaemia, swelling of legs, liver fibrosis, chronic lung disease, gangrene, neuropathy, cancer etc. According to experts, there are 2 to 3 lakh confirmed cases of arsenic-related diseases and over one lakh deaths due to arsenic poisoning, that is also gravely impacting animals.
“The committee, therefore, has urged that at least now, a national programme on arsenic mitigation and treatment be launched,” the Chairman said.
Asking the Government to go into “mission mode,” Joshi said it should seek international cooperation to find a concrete solution to the problem.
He said a dedicated Arsenic Task Force had been constituted which would report to Parliament every six months on the remedial measures taken.
When the committee asked related Ministries how to make poor people safe from arsenic poisoning, the officials answered, “They should drink safe water.” When Joshi asked from where the people would get safe drinking water, the babus were silent on the issue.
“This is the situation despite the fact that the first case of arsenic contaminated ground water in the country and its harmful effects was reported way back in 1976 in the Union Territory of Chandigarh and cases of individuals suffering from ‘arsenicosis’ in West Bengal emerged in 1982,” the committee said.
“Even after so many decades, the water policy does not mention its harmful effects and the remedy,” Joshi added.
To add insult to injury, the Government has increased the maximum permissible limit for arsenic in drinking water to 0.05 mg/l, higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard of 0.01 mg/l. The committee in its report presented to Parliament has asked that “the relaxed” arsenic permissible limit in drinking water should be done away forthwith and WHO standards restored.
Joshi said the heavy cost of this gross negligence by the Centre and States Governments is mostly paid by the “poor in rural areas” who develop a range of deadly diseases without being aware that the water they are drinking may disable them for life.
In his detailed report, Joshi said over 15 crore people worldwide are suffering due to consumption of arsenic contaminated drinking water with the magnitude being the highest in Bangladesh followed by West Bengal. It is exposing 3.6 crore people in Bengal delta basin to the risk.