Three year old boy dies, more than 50 fall sick after drinking contaminated water in Raichur
Raichur: A three-year-old boy died after drinking contaminated water in Rekalmaradi village in Devagurga taluk in Raichur district. More than 50 people fell ill in the village after consuming the contaminated water, officials said.
On Thursday, around 25 people were taken to primary health center as they suffered vomiting and loose motion and on Friday the number increased to more than 30.
According to Raichur district health officer Dr. Surendra Babu, women and children were infected the most as they were at home and consumed tap water mixed with drain water. He added that all the infected were rushed to PHC at Devagurga and the critically ill were taken to RIMS at Raichur.
Due to rise in temperature the borewells in the village went dry and all the three RO plants which the gram panchayat had set up are not working. Because of this, People are depending on private borewells and panchayat tap connection from where they get water once in 15-20 days, villagers said.
According to the villagers, the underground pipeline that supplies water to taps burst and drain water got mixed with tap water on Thursday. After taking this contaminated water, people fell ill.
“The infected were injected with IV fluids as they were dehydrated. We regret not being able to save three-year-old boy Hanumesh; he died due to continuous vomiting and loose motion. He was brought to hospital late; he would have survived had IV fluid been given. The rest are recovering,” Dr. Babu said. “Necessary medicine and IV fluids are being given at the PHC. All the infected may be discharged on Monday.”
He added that such incidents are common in Kalyan Karnataka region where drinking water is being supplied to every village through tankers in summers. Tap water is not supplied as groundwater level goes down. “The sample of the contaminated water that people drank was sent to a Bengaluru laboratory for testing,” he said.
Ramesh Karoshi, a villager from Rekalmaradi blamed Devagurga panchayat for the tragedy, He said, “Despite dozens of representations the panchayat officials did not respond. The underground pipeline got broken about a month ago. As the village is being supplied tap water once in 15-20 days, people used the water supplied on Thursday and Friday.”
Karoshi said that the broken underground pipeline was replaced and ROs were made functional after the tragedy. “The administration which did not care despite many petitions has now woken up. We would have saved Hanumesh had the administration been sincere,” he said.
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By-election to one seat of Karnataka Legislative Council to be held on July 12
Bengaluru, Jun 18: By-election to one seat of Karnataka Legislative Council, that was vacated by former Chief Minister and now Member of Parliament Jagadish Shettar, will be held on July 12, poll officials said on Tuesday.
The seat fell vacant as Shettar resigned from the MLC seat (elected by Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)) on January 24. His term was supposed to end in June 2028.
The 68-year-old former state BJP President had quit the the party to join the Congress ahead of the state assembly polls last year after being denied the ticket.
Thereafter, the Congress had made Shettar the MLC.
However, he returned to BJP in January after quitting as MLC, and successfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on the saffron party ticket, and is now an MP from the Belgaum Lok Sabha segment.
Notification for this by-poll will be issued on June 25, and the last date for filing nominations is July two. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on July three and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is July five.
Counting of votes will take place on July 12 at 5 pm.
