Jaundice outbreak in Odisha’s Cuttack city; locals blame contaminated drinking water

Bhubaneswar: As many as 86 people are reportedly suffering from jaundice in Rajendra Nagar area of Odisha’s Cuttack city.

The jaundice cases came to the fore yesterday. Initially, four persons in the locality tested positive for the disease. Subsequently, the number of jaundice positive cases went up to 86, locals said.

The local residents blamed contaminated drinking water for jaundice outbreak in Rajendra Nagar area. They had reportedly raised the issue of drinking water contamination with local corporator Soubhagini Jena and authorities of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) a few days ago but to no avail.

According to the locals, most of the drinking water pipes in Rajendra Nagar area are exposed to drains. Very often, the drain water enters into the pipes through breaches, they said.

“The CMC officials told us that the Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) is managing the drinking water supply system in the city. So, they cannot do anything in this regard,” said a local.

The local corporator too claimed that she had raised the issue with the WATCO Junior Engineer (JE) but the authorities did not take any prompt action.

A team from the CMC health department has inspected Rajendra Nagar and taken stock of the jaundice situation, said the corporator.