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Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar
At least seven people have died and 30 have fallen ill in an Orissa village after consuming contaminated pond water, officials said on Monday.
The illness has been attributed to contaminated pesticides farmers in Grinjel village of Orissa's Bargarh district have been spraying on their crops.
"The pesticide flowed down to the pond after the rains and contaminated the water," district health official Ashok Sahu told IANS.
The contamination of water came to light on August 16 when two women and a man were admitted to a government hospital at Sohela, 7 km from the village. All three came with complaints of intestinal disorder and died in quick succession.
After this, the district administration sent a team of health officials to the village to provide treatment to the ill. By August 26, the administration had shifted about 30 people to the hospital. Of these, five villagers succumbed to the illness. Their ages varied from three to 70.
"The fear sparked by the deaths has gripped nearby villages so severely that nobody is ready to visit Grinjel even to attend the funerals of those who died," a villager said.
With western Orissa villages ravaged by a drought last year and floods this year, the water sources have been contaminated in several villages.
"The villagers are driven to eat contaminated food and drink unsafe water," said social activist Bibekananda Das. "The condition of most villages in western Orissa is the same."
Indo-Asian News Service
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