Mahanadi waters taking toll

A youth from Badbazar died after suffering from prolong illness. He was suffering from Jaundice. A cameraman of Sambalpur died, he was also suffering from Jaundice. A women of Nandapara was admitted in the head quarter hospital after prolong illness. She has been suffering from Typhoid. A lawyer of Sambalpur was also admitted in the hospital for the same reason. And the list of such patients is too long.

Doctor says that these two - Jaundice and Typhoid - are water borne diseases and affect only when a patient consumes contaminated water. But people of Sambalpur have no choice but  to consume Mahanadi water which has become polluted due to the inflow of garbage and sewage from the town.

"Both Typhoid and Jaundice are water borne disease. It affects due to the consumption of contaminated water. We appeal everyone to take water after boiling it,” doctor of Sambalpur headquarter hospital A. Panda said.

Originating from Chhattisgarh, the longest river of the central India, The Mahanadi, works as a natural bond between western and coastal part of the state symbolizing its unity. But over the years the river water has become polluted and unhygienic for human consumption due to the rampant discharge of sewage and drain-water. Environmentalists apprehend an epidemic-like situation in the state if immediate steps are not taken to clean the river.

“It is true that the Mahanadi water becomes dangerously polluted because of direct discharge of the all type of waste water and sewage into the river. We have warned the people not to consume the water as it has become the source of all waterborne diseases,” eminent conservationist Dilip Padhi said.

The pollution of the river majorly starts when it reaches Sambalpur as the sewerage system of the town ends in the river at Sadak ghat at Badbazar and Balibandha ghat at Balibandha. The entire Sewage, waste by the effluent of mills and factories are discharged into the river at these points. In the absence of any sewage treatment plants it drains directly into the river.

“People suffer several water borne diseases and typhoid after using the river water. But neither the administration nor the political representatives take step to clean the river," eminent ecologist, Rushi Patra, said.