While more people get admitted to the Isolation Hospital with gastroenteritis and other water-borne diseases the civic agencies which can come to the city’s rescue are busy playing the blame game. The problem is there for all to see.
The BBMP’s own health officials have said the Public Health Institute (PHI) has found water samples from Padarayanapura, Rayapuram and KR Market unfit for consumption. But what it did next was only blame the BWSSB and ask it to increase the chlorination of the water supplied, while taking no significant measures of its own to help the situation.
The water board, for its part, responded by merely going on the defensive, seemingly unwilling to take any kind of responsibility for the situation. It prefers to blame the dirt around pipe valves and the garbage around public taps for the contamination rather than make an attempt to get to the root of the problem. Therefore, although it has been advised to increase the chlorination in the city’s water supply, new cases of gastroenteritis are being admitted to the Isolation hospital even today.
With both the BBMP and the BWSSB seeming indifferent to the situation, the city could be in for an even worse time as the monsoon which is just a few weeks away, brings with it a fresh set of problems. What could help are awareness campaigns in slums and other areas to keep garbage away from public taps and against consuming of roadside food and cut fruits. While the BBMP claims it is on the job, it is obviously meeting with little success.