Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 16

Heated arguments broke out between residents and the area councillor today in Abheypur over “acting late” in the matter of cholera outbreak that has so far left a nine-year-old boy dead and around 250 ill.

Rajesh Kumar, councillor from ward number 9, called the police. There is anger among people over the handling of the issue by the administration with allegations that the area councillor and the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) did nothing on their complaints of dirty water supply in the area.

Residents said they were angry over the alleged medical negligence on the part of the Civil Hospital in treating patients admitted to the government facility. The family of the nine-year-old boy has accused doctors of discharging his son before he was stable.

Raju, a local resident, said, “I came across a newspaper article which quoted the CMO as saying that Abheypur people live in poor sanitary conditions and that’s the reason behind the spread of the disease. People are upset over the statement. Secondly, those approaching the Civil Hospital are not being treated well or referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. Officials are just pretending to be working, but in reality, they are not.”

A woman said, ‘’People who live in the village belong to lower economic strata and most work as daily wage labourers. Let’s hope we get clean water through the pipeline as we can’t afford packaged water.’’

Rajesh Kumar, area councillor belonging to the JJP, said a group of people who entered into an argument with him were “politically motivated”.

“It’s total nonsense. If a problem has come up, we should try to address it rather than asking absurd questions. I had to call up the police as it could have turned into a fight,” he said.

“We don’t want the situation to go out of control. The pipelines are being closely monitored to keep tabs on leakage, if any. Hence, the water supply in the area will continue to remain shut today as well and residents will be provided water through tankers,” he said.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Chander Mohan also visited the spot.

Local people apprised him of issues related to the water supply. According to the HSVP, drinking water may have mixed with sewage water that led to the contamination.

Haryana Speaker and local MLA Gian Chand Gupta also went to the house of the deceased’s family but they had left for their native place in Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh before his arrival.