COIMBATORE: Over 60 students of a private women’s college located on Avinashi Road fell sick allegedly after drinking water from a water dispenser in the college on Friday. Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) officials inspected the college on Monday.
According to sources, students complained of vomiting, dizziness and diarrhoea and were admitted to various hospitals in the city. While students accused the college management of poor maintenance of the water purifiers and water tanks, the latter said water supplied by the civic body through a pipeline was of poor quality.
“No facility in the college or hostel is in proper working condition. The water purifier/dispenser in the hostel, located in the A Block, was not maintained for a long time. A lizard had fallen into the water dispenser’s tank and was left unattended. As a result, students who consumed water from the dispenser fell ill. Of the 50 students who were admitted to the nearby hospitals, two are in the ICU. The college management is also not providing any help including financial assistance for the treatment,” said one of the students.
However, management denied the allegations and accused the civic body of supplying contaminated water. As the issue intensified, the college management declared holidays till October 24 and told students to vacate the hostel immediately.
On Monday, CCMC commissioner M Prathap along with a team of officials inspected the water dispenser, RO treatment plant and water tanks in the college and also inspected water pipelines in the area. The civic body has released a list of helpline numbers for people to complain about any water contamination.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Commissioner M Prathap said, “If the water supplied by the civic body was contaminated, then people who are residing in the area must have also been affected. But none of them is sick. We’ve collected water samples from the college as well as the pipelines and have sent them to the labs for testing. The college management reported the incident to us only after two days. While the incident took place on Friday, they informed us only on Sunday.” Prathap added that they have organised a medical health check-up camp for the public as well as the students in the educational institution.