TIRUCHY: In the recent months, the city corporation had received complaints about contaminated or muddy water being supplied to some wards. A few residents have also suffered from diarrhoea and other diseases after drinking this water.
This month, a contamination incident was reported from ward 19 affecting 15 residents, and they held a protest in Big Bazaar (ward 19) on Monday, alleging breakage in the drinking water supply line and poor coordination between the UGD team and corporation to prevent water contamination.
“The UGD team would start digging and not report to authorities if the drinking water supply line broke during works. Drainage water would then mix with the drinking water supply line resulting in contamination. The corporation team has to take measures at UGD sites to avoid further incidents,” said Ahamed Hussain, a resident.
Councillor Sadiq Basha, representing ward 19, said, “There were fake reports alleging 20 deaths in my ward due to water contamination, while nothing like this had happened. While the water was recently found a bit muddy in some areas of my ward, that issue was resolved two days ago.” Senior officials also dismissed reports about deaths.
“In some areas, water supply lines are over 40 years old and likely to get damaged during UGD works. We have been cautious while conducting works in these areas. Our team always responds swiftly. Sample reports received so far have not indicated any contamination. We will still continue to examine samples,” an official said.