Over 650 affected with diarrhoea in Kolkata, city municipal corporation denies drinking water is contaminated

Kolkata: At least 28 people were admitted to the Baghajatin State General Hospital with diarrhoea and over 650 were down with symptoms of the disease in six wards of the south-eastern part of the city, civic officials said on Monday. The affected were from wards 101, 102, 107, 108, 109 and 110 mainly of Baghajatin, Patuli, Jadavpur, Santoshpur and some areas off Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, a senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said. “At the moment, 28 people suffering from diarrhoea are admitted to Baghajatin State General Hospital on Monday,” city mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who visited the wards this morning, said. [caption id=“attachment_4319729” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Chatterjee said that around 260-270 people were brought to the Baghajatin State General Hospital last night while seven were admitted to the hospital. According to other senior officials, 15 persons including six children were shifted to the Beleghata ID Hospital while one was undergoing treatment at the MR Bangur Hospital. Besides, several from areas like Birnagar near Patuli, Sahid Smriti Colony near Peerless hospital and Nonadanga have visited civic health units, another official said. Rubbishing complaints that contamination of drinking water led to the outbreak of the disease in the area, Chatterjee said, “We have collected samples from 82 places so far and nothing was found wrong. We have seen that not all in a family drinking the same water were ill. We are, however, conducting a thorough check of the distribution system.” A team of KMC water supply department officials collected samples of water from Dhapa water treatment plant and Garden Reach Water Works and sent them to the KMC analysts for tests. Meanwhile, the KMC on Monday sent water tankers and water purifying medicines to these areas.