Indore water contamination: 20 new diarrhoea cases detected; over 9,000 screened
Indore (PTI): Twenty new patients were detected in Indore on Sunday after health teams screened over 9,000 persons amid a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated drinking water in the country’s cleanest city, officials said.
Officials said health teams examined 9,416 individuals from 2,354 households during an ongoing survey in the city’s Bhagirathpura area, where six persons have lost their lives due to contaminated water, and identified 20 fresh cases.
According to officials, 398 patients have been admitted to hospitals so far following the outbreak in Bhagirathpura. Of them, 256 patients have been discharged after recovery.
They said that 142 patients are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals, including 11 admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).
Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Madhav Prasad Haasani said a team from the Kolkata-based National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (NIRBI) has arrived in Indore to probe the health crisis.
He said experts from NIRBI, which is affiliated with the Indian Council of Medical Research, are providing technical support to the health department to contain the outbreak.
The administration has confirmed six deaths so far due to the consumption of contaminated water in Bhagirathpura. Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava had said on January 2 that he had information about 10 deaths linked to the outbreak.
However, local residents have claimed that 16 people, including a six-month-old child, have died due to the diarrhoea outbreak.
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Chair hurled at Union Minister of State V. Somanna during public event in Koppal
Koppal: Tension prevailed for a brief period at Hitnal village in Koppal taluk on Monday after a chair was allegedly hurled at Union Minister of State for Railways and Jal Shakti, V. Somanna, during a public function.
The incident occurred when Somanna was attending the foundation stone–laying ceremony for a railway flyover near Hitnal village.
According to reports, a group of Congress workers expressed anger over the alleged exclusion of Koppal MP K. Rajashekar Basavaraj Hitnal and District In-charge Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi from the invitation list for the program. During the incident, a chair was reportedly thrown, but the Minister was unharmed as his security personnel intervened in time.
Following the incident, chaos ensued at the venue for some time, with protesters allegedly throwing chairs and staging a demonstration in front of Somanna’s vehicle, accusing the organisers of violating protocol.
The railway flyover project, being taken up for Rs 27 crore, connects the Hitnal–Munirabad–Ginigera stretch.
Reacting to the incident, Somanna said the project was fully funded by the Central government and denied any breach of protocol. “There was no violation of etiquette related to the programme. The disturbance was created intentionally,” he said.
