New Delhi: Think twice before you buy
water from a
roadside trolley.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the nodal authority for monitoring water-borne diseases in north and west Delhi, took
samples from
572 water trolleys this year and
not a single sample was found to be
fit for
drinking.
“All samples failed to meet the necessary standards and fines were imposed on the people managing these trolleys,” an official of the public health department told the standing committee while presenting the report before it on Wednesday.
Standing committee chairperson Veena Virmani said strict action would be taken against the violators. “This is a serious matter pertaining to the health of community at large. I have directed the officials to cancel the licence of repeat violators,” she said, adding that the corporation will now start identifying the repeat violators.
The corporation had issued 1,623 licences for water trolleys in its jurisdiction. Selling cold drinking water for Rs 2 per glass, these refrigerated trolleys can be found across the capital. Many trolleys also sell lemonade and soda water.
Central Delhi’s Ram Nagar market is the hub for manufacturing these trolleys. “Migrants from east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar constitute the largest chunk of vendors,” an official said. A large number of unlincensed trolleys also operate across the capital. The Delhi high court recently expressed concern over sale of refrigerated water through these trolleys, asking the corporations and the police to stop the illegal activity at the earliest. “Dirty water is a health hazard, which can cause jaundice and diarrhoea. These people don’t even wash their hands,” a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shnakar had said.
The corporation-run Mahharishi Valmiki Hospital treated 378 diarrhoea and 89 cholera cases this year while Hindu Rao Hospital received 650 diarrhoea cases.
A roadside water trolley
