DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand High Court has pulled up senior district officials over their handling of a suspected water contamination outbreak in Nainital’s Jeolikote area after laboratory reports contradicted the administration’s claim that the situation had returned to normal.
Nainital District Magistrate Lalit Mohan Rayal, the Chief Medical Officer and Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan officials appeared before the court in person.
The administration said drinking water was being supplied through tankers and samples collected from local sources had met safety standards. However, a Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board report found that samples collected from 10 locations, including Veerbhatti, Beluwakhan, Prema Jagati School and Saritatal, had failed drinking water quality tests. Harmful bacteria were detected in the samples.
A separate Health Department report found that four of five samples tested had also failed quality checks.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay criticised the officials after examining the reports.
“The authorities do not appear to be sensitive to the health of villagers,” the Bench observed, expressing displeasure that complaints about foul-smelling water had allegedly not been addressed promptly despite being raised about a month ago.
The court directed the Chief Secretary to personally monitor the matter and file an affidavit by next week.
During the hearing, Rayal informed the Bench about measures being taken to prevent waterborne illnesses and ensure safe drinking water in the affected areas.
The court also took on record an application filed by residents of Khurpatal, who alleged that blocked sewer lines around Saritatal were causing sewage to enter drinking water sources and pipelines, raising concerns about a wider disease outbreak.
Following the court’s intervention, the administration said it would include the Pollution Control Board in the committee investigating the contamination.
The Chief Medical Officer was directed to file a separate affidavit on the condition of the affected families. The Pollution Control Board was also ordered to immediately collect fresh samples from the affected areas, while the administration was directed to conduct water-quality tests across Nainital.
The matter will be heard again next week.
On September 8, the High Court had ordered urgent testing of water sources, uninterrupted supply of safe drinking water and specialist medical care in the Jeolikote area.
The suspected contamination outbreak has claimed three lives and left more than 250 people ill.
