Officials suspect a gastroenteritis breakout in Manakapur and Shirol villages in Chikkodi taluk of Belagavi district. A team of doctors who visited the village on Wednesday suspected that water of Panchaganga river supplied to the village may be polluted. Six men and five women were treated for vomiting and diarrhoea in the last three days. There have been no casualties.
Taluk health officer V.V. Shindhe and other officers have advised villagers not to drink the river water and avoid using it for cooking. The village has three borewells. Another three are being dug. It also has two drinking water dispensing units, they said.
They collected water samples from the river and sent them for testing. A complete plan to manage the crisis is being put in place, Dr. Shindhe said. He has urged the gram panchayat to take up cleaning and maintenance of the filtering unit that is now supplying river water to the village.
Panchaganga, a tributary of the Krishna, flows through some taluks in Maharashtra before entering Belagavi district. Zilla panchayat officials said the source of pollution may be the effluents of some industrial units in Maharashtra and the sewage from cities. There are no industrial units on its banks in Chikkodi taluk. Dr. Shindhe also asked officials to engage village heralders and Asha and Anganwadi workers to spread word in Manakapur and surrounding villages and hamlets.
However, Gram Panchayat president Vithal Kattekar told The Hindu that the river water filter had not been repaired since 2012 and one of the clean drinking water units had stopped working. “Naturally, most people collect water from the river for drinking and cooking. If we are to stop drinking that water, then we should be given alternative sources of water,” he said.