Palampur well cleaned, 5 new gastro cases reported

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 17

Five more persons, who complained of vomiting and diarrhoea, were brought to hospital in Khaira village last night as the number of persons affected by gastroenteritis rose to 54.

As the news pertaining to the rising number of cases of gastroenteritis appeared in these columns today, the IPH Department swung into action and started large-scale cleanings of the well which is the main source of water supply for two affected villages.

Executive Engineer, Anil Puri, personally supervised the entire operation, said that by the evening, the cleaning of the water well would be completed and the water supply would also be restored.

Vipin Singh Parmar, Speaker of the Assembly, who represents this constituency, said health teams were still camping in the villages. The IPH had been directed to check all water wells and tanks in the area before the rainy season so that disease could be contained. He said the affected persons were out of danger and the hospital authorities had directed to provide free medicines to them.

The disease spread because of contamination of drinking water being supplied to the villages from percolation well in Mandh khud near the village which was stinking and full of garbage and waste material. The water of the Mandh khud is highly contaminated as the entire garbage of Palampur is dumped into this tributary of the Beas. The Tribune carried a detailed story yesterday in these columns highlighting the cases of gastroenteritis from two villages of Palampur.