VIJAYAPURA: A pall of gloom descended on Yeragal village in Vijayapura as two people allegedly died after drinking contaminated water on Sunday. The victims are identified as Neelamma Benkannavar (65) and Basavaraj Malagi (21), both are residents of Yeragal village of Muddebihal taluk. Four more people have shown similar symptoms, however, all are stable and out of danger, sources said. Apart from these six people, no other people have complained about diarrhea and other illnesses.
According to Zilla Panchayat officials, “As many six people with the complaints of vomiting and diarrhea were admitted to the taluk hospital on Saturday. After the treatment, four people have been discharged. The two have succumbed due to other health complications as the sexagenarian had hypertension and the 21-year-old had various health complications.”
Speaking to TNIE, ZP CEO Govinda Reddy, said that, “As per the preliminary report, the deaths have not occurred due to water contamination. The sexagenarian had been referred to the district civil hospital for higher treatment but she succumbed after suffering cardiac arrest and the 21-year-old died as family members got him discharged from the hospital against the advice of doctors.”
“A special team led by taluk health officer and other officials have emptied the stored water in all the houses as a precaution. We are creating awareness about it. The staff have also collected samples of water and it will be sent to lab to ascertain the quality of water.”
“We will not deny that the deaths have occurred due to water contamination. In this village, water is being supplied from old pipelines and Jal Jeevan Mission works are still undergoing here,” detailed ZP CEO Reddy. Recently, at least six people had died after drinking contaminated water in the district.