Shimla: The dry spell in Himachal Pradesh is posing a threat of
water-borne diseases with many cases already being reported from different parts of the state. Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said that an exercise should be undertaken to find out the reasons why viruses of water-borne diseases were getting active every year. "Although the situation is not alarming, yet we need to adopt preventive measures at all levels to check the outbreak of these diseases," he said.
Thakur said this while presiding over a review meeting with senior officers of the health department and irrigation and public health department here on Saturday. He maintained that the state government was very serious over the issue of water-borne diseases and every possible step would be taken to prevent their outbreak in any part of the state. He said that all departments should work in close coordination to monitor the situation and public feedback should be taken on priority.
He said that the government was mulling over upgrading 300 water pumping schemes in the state and tubewells would be installed after considering the demands of people.
Irrigation and public health minister Mahender Singh Thakur said that directions had been issued for extra chlorination of water reservoirs and water samples were being taken from various reservoirs so that people get quality water. He said that 20,900 water tanks were cleaned during the last 15 days. He said that feedback of people was also being gathered. He said that a total 9,394 water supply schemes were functional in the state and in case of dry spell, the department would install hand pumps besides reviving the existing ones. He said that 1,100 hand pumps would be installed in the state.
Health minister Vipin Singh Parmar said that a long dry spell was the reason behind these water-borne diseases. Last year, 46 cases of jaundice were reported in the state while this year only nine cases had been reported, including six of hepatitis-A and three of hepatitis-E. He said that hepatitis tests were being done free of cost in all government hospitals besides providing free treatment.
Chief secretary Vineet Chowdhary said directions had been given to the departments for taking preventive measures in view of the drought-like situation so that water-borne diseases could be averted.
