At Mauli Jagran on Monday. (Express Photo by Sahil Walia)
Mayor Davesh Moudgil on Tuesday visited the residents of Mauli Jagran, who were taken ill after drinking contaminated water, at Civil Hospital, Manimajra. Three more residents visited the hospital on Tuesday.
The mayor, accompanied by Municipal Commissioner K K Yadav, ward Councillor Anil Dubey, Chief Engineer Manoj Bansal, Superintending Engineer N P Sharma and other officials, also visited the area. The official collected 50 water samples from various household on Tuesday for testing.
Over 50 residents were taken ill after drinking water in certain pipelines got contaminated in the area in the last few days. Doctors at the Civil Hospital, Manimajra, on Tuesday said that around 15 patients from the colony are still admitted and that only three new patients approached them on the day, claiming the situation was under control.
The Mayor and the municipal commissioner directed the officials to maintain proper cleanliness in the area. They also asked the public health engineers to check and clean the water supply lines and sewerage disposal system. The hospital has also been asked to provide the required facilities to the patients.
The water tank near the tube well no. 2, which was found in unhygienic condition on Monday, was cleaned. The water tank has been covered with fibre sheets.
The residents of the area alleged that they were being neglected by Municipal Corporation (MC) Chandigarh and that it was only after the people had fallen ill that the authorities swung into action.
“We often get contaminated drinking water and last week three members from my family had to be admitted to the hospital. MC officials came only after so many residents were taken ill and the issue was raised by media,” Pawan Kumar Saxena, a Mauli Jagran resident, told Chandigarh Newsline.
But, the MC officials have claimed that all the water samples taken from the supply taps have passed in both chlorine as well as bacteriological tests undertaken in the Civil Hospital, Manimajra. On Tuesday, they collected the water samples from individual houses, said they.
Chief Engineer Bansal said that the samples of supply water given by the MC are fit for drinking. “ In fact, we are suspecting that the water, which is stored by the residents, may be contaminated and kept in unhygienic conditions, which is why we have taken 50 such samples,” he said.
But the residents fear to consume the drinking water supplied by the MC. “We have been boiling water before consuming it,” said Adhi, a local resident.