The cholera-affected Padumpukhuri area in Uzan Bazar. Picture by Eastern Projections

Aug. 28: The health department and Guwahati Municipal Corporation today intensified the drive to prevent the spread of cholera.

The corporation has started constituting sanitation committees in all 26 designated slums to keep the areas clean.

The anti-cholera drive of the health department received a shot in the arm with the arrival of two Rapid Response Teams from New Delhi and Gauhati Medical College and Hospital joining it this morning.

K.C. Das, the joint director of health services, Kamrup, said the teams would help the health department to intensify the anti-cholera drive.

He added that the four-member team from the directorate general of health services, New Delhi, which arrived here yesterday, is monitoring the situation and trying to identify the exact reason for the outbreak of cholera.

The team will start visiting the affected areas from tomorrow.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi held a meeting at his official residence yesterday and instructed the Kamrup metropolitan district administration and corporation to immediately adopt a scientific methodology to keep the city clean.

Gogoi added that punitive measures would be adopted against anyone found guilty of dereliction of duty.

An official of the GMC said following Gogoi’s instruction the corporation today started the process of constituting sanitation committees in all 26 designated slums.

The official added that the committees comprising senior residents of the slums would be empowered to look after cleanliness and sanitation in their areas.

“The sanitation committees will receive logistic support from the corporation to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the slums. The committees will not only sensitise the slumdwellers but also take action against those found guilty of littering the areas,” the official said.

The state public analyst in its report on water samples collected from Padumpukhuri area yesterday stated that the residual chlorine was found to be less than the amount required to prevent contamination of water.

The GMC has decided to increase the quantum of chlorine at the intake point of the corporation’s water supply project in Satpukhuri.