Poor drinking water quality and bad road conditions are haunting residents of Nallavur hamlet near Vanur, which is about 60 km from Villupuram town.
This Dalit colony houses close to 2,000 members and it is alleged that due to the series of casualities due to water contamination over the past few days, some private hospitals in Tindivanam are even refusing to admit patients from this colony.
During monsoon, the entire area is submerged in rainwater and sewage water overflows to the roads. This leads to groundwater contamination and the residents face drinking water contamination issues, it was claimed.
So far, about 40 villagers had been hospitalised in Puducherry and Villupuram government hospitals due to health problems caused by groundwater contamination, said hospital sources.
The villagers claimed that over the past 20 days, there had been five deaths in the hamlet and many others were undergoing treatment in ICUs, all due to water contamination.
However, Senguttavan, the Block Development Officer of Vanur, who conducted an inspection at the colony, said that the residents had unauthorisedly sunk 15-feet hand borewells, which had led to sewage-drinking water mix up.
Sangeetha (30), a resident, claimed that her father-in-law Kaliyaperumal (52) died some 20 days ago, following which her husband Elumalai (30), who was undergoing treatment at JIPMER in Puducherry, too died after consuming contaminated drinking water sourced from the street waterpipes.
Refuting the charge, Deputy Director of Health Meera claimed that some residents had started sourcing water from pit holes, which was unfit for consumption.
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