No contamination of water found: KMC

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has not found any contamination in its water supply line in and around Sashi Sekhar Bose Road in Bhowanipore where three persons including a child had allegedly died due to water contamination. The water supply department of KMC has been carrying out intense search operation since Monday after several others fell ill as was reported from the area.

"We have not found any contamination in our water supply line yet after an intense search operation was conducted on Tuesday. The search is still on. The water supply line has been snapped as a precautionary measure and we have arranged for water supply tankers so that the residents of Sashi Sekhar Bose Road and its adjoining areas do not face any hardship regarding availability of water," a senior official of KMC's Water Supply department said.

Local ward coordinator Ratan Malakar said the situation is under control and presently around 15 persons are sick. "Some of them are undergoing treatment at home and around 4 to 5 are still in hospital," he added.

The deaths of a resident of labour quarters of KMC, Bhubaneshwar Das, and undertrial prisoner of Alipore Women Correctional Home Rinki Tamang were reported on Monday after allegedly drinking contaminated water. Some four odd inmates had also fallen sick.

However, the death certificate of Das had no mention of contamination and indicated that he died of a cardiac arrest. A child Arushi Kumari, who was hospitalised, died on Tuesday.

"We have informed the KMC soon after the problem and they have chlorinated the supply areas properly," a senior official of state Correctional Administration said.

Residents of the labour quarters said they had witnessed dirty water coming out of the water supply line some days back. Soon after that there were reports of people getting affected with symptoms of water-borne diseases like vomiting and diarrhea.