PARADIP: For the last 15 days, residents of Port Town have been unable to use water supplied by Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO). The reason: the water is infested with worms.
Holding a transparent plastic container where the worms big and small float freely in water, a resident of Sanjay Gandhi Colony Deb Kalayan Mohapatra said the worm-infested supply has affected most of the families who rely on public taps provided in the area.
An employee of PPT said while they usually use the water after boiling, people tried using cloth to filter the water while fetching water from taps. But it did not help much. Despite several appeals, nothing has been done to clean the sump or tank and pipelines, he added.
As per reports, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) supplies water to 2,600 employees and nearly 85,000 population in the town besides international ships through PHEO. While the thickly-populated residential colonies in Nua Bazaar, Bada Padia, Nehru Bungalow and Ghanagholia have been experiencing drinking water crisis, the tap water infested with worms has become a problem for the families. The situation has aggravated in 26 slum settlements of Paradip town.
Protesting the apathy of administration, residents in large numbers staged a demonstration in front of the pump house of PHEO recently and demanded safe drinking water supply.Executive Engineer of PHEO, PPT, Binayak Pradhan said steps are being taken to clean the tanks and pipelines. The contract agency has been asked to maintain cleanliness of the water supply system, he added.