Hyderabad: The city sewerage board has identified 256 hotspots for rigorous checking after the polio virus (vaccine-derived) was detected in a sample of water collected from a drain in Hyderabad’s Amberpet area.
HMWSSB chief Dana Kishore said the virus was not found in a storm water drain but in a drain from the sewerage treatment plant that will contain all kinds of faecal matter.
The department has identified 256 hotspots in the city where checks will be carried out. No virus was found in samples of drinking water. The HMWSSB will conduct bacterial and viral sampling every month. 6,000 samples are collected and checked. Every month, he said.
Following detection of the virus, Amberpet MLA Kishen Reddy met HMWSSB authorities and asked for closure of the Golnaka drain.
“The 3 km drain is defunct. Water stagnates here for days and there is a foul smell. There is no flow of water. The plan to close the drain was taken a year back and Rs 1.46 crore was sanctioned. However, it got delayed. On Thursday works will begin to close this drain.”
