Hyderabad: Instances of water contamination in the city are more than what gets reported. In some colonies, residents have been getting illness-causing drinking water that is contaminated by drainage for four months now.
In the wake of Thursday’s incident at Vaddera basti in Madhapur, wherein a person died and 60 were hospitalized after drinking contaminated water, Board officials were neither ready to find the crux of the problem nor provide any alternative mechanism to ensure supply of safe and hygienic drinking water.
Alarm bells are ringing in Shahbazguda in Secunderabad and Gandhinagar Colony in Langar Houz where locals are complaining of frequent stomach ache and vomiting. Incidentally, these are the very symptoms that were reported by residents Vaddera basti before tragedy struck.
“All our family members, including children, have been suffering from skin rashes that are leading to bleeding. We have no option but to depend on bore well water from neighbours,” said Gajraj Pal, a resident of Shahbazguda.
“We cannot afford to have bottled water as we are close to 10 people in the household and that will be an expensive proposition”, he added.
It is a similar tale in Gandhinagar colony where they complain of getting dirty drainage water in drinking water pipelines for four months.
“The water is not good to drink”, said Gagandeep Reddy, an IT employee. “It is tragic that no effort is being made by officials to stem the rot, despite knowing the precise places where the sewerage pipeline is leaking,” he said.
“When we consumed the water, adults in our locality suffered from diarrhoea while children suffered from vomiting. Officials hardly provide water tankers as an alternative source,” Reddy said.
Sheikh Chand, a resident of Khaderbagh in Mehdipatnam, said around 50 houses have been getting water heavily laced with drainage effluent for the last 15-20 days. Despite several complaints, there was no improvement in the situation. “We are now depending on water tankers,” he added.
