‘Diarrhoea’ Deaths: Daya River Water Highly Polluted, Not Fit For Human Consumption, Says Puri CDMO

Puri: The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Puri, Rupabhanu Mishra, has advised the people not to consume the water of Daya river as it was highly polluted and not fit for human consumption.

The CDMO’s statement has come in the wake of death four persons reportedly due to diarrhoea in several villages under Gopinathpur and Gadishgopa gram panchayats of Kanas block of the district. Several others had also taken ill and admitted to hospital around 15 days back.

A team of Health department officials including the CDMO had visited the villages and conducted an investigation to ascertain the cause of the disease. They had also collected the sample of Daya river water for laboratory test as the villagers depend on it for their daily use.

Speaking to the media on Monday, the CDMO said a joint inspection was carried out by the team including Puri Additional Collector Sharat Chandra Behera, Sub-Collector Raj Kishore Jena, and himself in the diarrhoea affected villages.

The visited the houses of the villagers and interacted with them to know their health problems. The locals pointed out that drinking water supply was the main problem of the area.

“The laboratory test of the Daya River water revealed that it was highly contaminated and not fit for consumption. We have advised the people not to use the river water for any purposes,” said Mishra.

The department has made arrangements to supply water which can be used for drinking. Besides, the villagers have been told to use only water from the tube-wells, he added.