‘Water being treated, no reason for panic’

BALURGHAT: For the past seven days, complaints have been raised by the people of Balurghat of murky drinking water being supplied to Balurghat town. Despite assurances that the water is potable, residents are fearing that it would cause health problems.

Ashok Kumar Mitra, chairman of Balurghat Municipality, explained that the water is murky owing to the use of chlorine and alum to keep the water clean and safe.

The municipality has been supplying drinking water to Balurghat for the past few years, spending approximately Rs 200 crore on the project. Water is drawn from the Atreyee River using pumps and treated in specialised facilities before being delivered to households. However, wards 13, 14 and 15 of Chakvrigu, newly-included in the city, are not part of this project. In the remaining 22 wards, as many as 16,318 houses are included, with at least 4,000 homes already receiving water. Despite this, residents have reported that the drinking water supplied over the past week has been murky, triggering panic.

Adding a political dimension to the issue, South Dinajpur district BJP General Secretary Bapi Sarkar stated: “After stopping the drinking water in Gangarampur town, now dirty water is being supplied in Balurghat. This is because of the Trinamool Congress candidate’s loss here. I think the TMC-run municipality is doing this deliberately.”

Ashok Kumar Mitra dismissed these claims, saying: “It is natural for the BJP or the Opposition to make false propaganda and politicise an issue as they have done with electric furnaces in the crematorium at Khidirpur. The BJP’s allegations will be proven false.”

He further explained: “The river water level has increased, leading to more sand and other bacteria in the water. Chlorine and alum are being used in larger quantities to remove these impurities, resulting in slightly cloudy water.

The water is being treated and supplied by expert engineers and there is no reason for unnecessary panic.”