Andhra Pradesh: Two committees set up to probe drinking water contamination

KURNOOL: Following the outbreak of gastroenteritis at Gorakallu in Panyam mandal and at Arun Jyothi Nagar in Adoni municipality due to water contamination, District Collector G Veerapandian on Saturday constituted two committees to conduct a probe into the incidents and placed four officials under suspension. Show-cause notices were also served on four officials pertaining to the two incidents.

Three persons died at Gorakallu and one at Arun Jyothi Nagar and over 100 hospitalised due to consumption of contaminated water supplied by the panchayat and the municipality a few days ago. 
Deputy Chief Minister (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) visited Gorakallu and Arun Jyothi Nagar, and interacted with patients undergoing treatment in hospitals to know the facts pertaining to contamination of drinking water. He announced an ex gratia of `3 lakh each to the families of deceased.

One of the committees is headed by Adoni Revenue Divisional Officer Ramakrishna Reddy. R Sreenath Reddy, Superintending Engineer, Public Health, Anantapur, and Surendra Babu, SE, Kurnool Municipal Corporation, are its members. The committee will probe into drinking water contamination at Arun Jyothi Nagar.

The other committee is headed by Nandyal Sub-Collector Kalpana Kumari. Vidya Sagar, SE, Rural Water Supply, and Prabhakar Rao, DPO, Kurnool, are its members. It will probe into outbreak of gastroenteritis at Gorakallu.