Ganderbal, Aug 18: From the last three days, hundreds of people have been taken ill with acute diarrheal and gastroenteritis diseases in Shahpora and Reshipora villages of district Ganderbal.
Local residents said that many persons in two adjacent villages, Shahpora and Reshipora, have been complaining of diarrhea, vomiting, fever and severe body ache from last three days.
They claimed that the disease spread due to contaminated water that was supplied to the villages. “Water storage tank which supplies water to the villages has not been cleaned from the last three years,” they added.
The locals while holding Public health engineering (PHE) deptt responsible for the outbreak of diseases said that PHE employees have never bothered to visit the village to see if the water that is being supplied here is safe or not.
“The water storage tank was never cleaned before but now the officials of PHE deptt have initiated ist cleaning process just to save themselves from the backlash,” they added.
When contacted Medical superintendent district Hospital Ganderbal, he said, “We have treated many patients so far and it is water borne disease. We have send samples to the laboratory are expecting results on Monday or Tuesday.”
Executive engineer PHE Ganderbal hung-up the phone saying, “This is an old matter. Water is safe and there is no infection.”
