GUNTUR: A 17-year-old died and 21 people fell ill in Guntur city on Saturday reportedly after drinking contaminated water. While 17 are from Sarada and Srinagar Colonies in the city, the remaining four are from various parts of the district.
According to information reaching here, the patients, presenting symptoms of diarrhoea, were shifted to the local Urban Primary Healthcare Centre and Government General Hospital. It has been learnt that P Padma, a native of Sarada Colony, suddenly fell sick and died on Saturday morning.
Soon after receiving the information, officials of the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) rushed to the spot and enquired about the situation. Following the instructions of civic chief Kirthi Chekuri, a medical camp was set up in the two severely-affected areas. According to officials, health condition of 19 people is stable.
Mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu, Deputy Mayor Vajra Babu, District collector M Venugopal Reddy and GMC chief Kirthi Chekuri visited the patients at the GGH and enquired about the situation. The Collector directed officials to supply water through tankers in the affected areas till the cause is identified.
Further, Kirthi Chekuri said as per preliminary findings, the teenager did not die due to diarrhoea. She added that the reason for her death will be ascertained only after postmortem. Samples of water at the reservoir in Sarada Colony have been collected and sent to Guntur Medical College for testing, she said and added,
“Stern action will be taken if any official is found to be responsible for the incident.” Urging the citizens not to panic, she asserted that the civic body was taking all steps to provide safe drinking water to people.
In a similar incident reported in Tirumalachari Colony in Sangadigunta under GMC limits last week, a few people fell sick. The civic body had conducted a door-to-door survey and collected water samples from the reservoir and from all households.
Stating that ‘contaminated water’ was not the cause for people falling sick, they confirmed that the level of chlorine in the water was safe.