Cuttack, April 3: Residents have slammed the callous and laidback approach of the civic body which, they say, has "failed to control the jaundice outbreak".

The jaundice scare is no longer limited to Jobra and its surroundings. The scare of the deadly liver disease now looms large over several low-lying areas, such as Mehendipur, Kesharpur and Patapole, that lack drinking water facilities and proper sanitation measures.

Badambadi resident Subhankar Das said: "The civic body should not limit its approach to fixing leakages in the water supply pipelines."

"The officials concerned should ensure that there is no compromise in the quality of water, either supplied through tankers or through water pouches that are sold in the city," he said.

Das further said that the drive against illegal sale of water pouches assumes significance following the outbreak of the waterborne disease in several localities within the limits of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation. Most of the drinking water pouches are sold without any manufacturing and use-before dates, which may pose serious health hazards as the demand for such ready-to-use drinking water pouches is high during the summer.

Official sources said the pouches the vendors sell should carry the certification mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards. Besides, a licence is mandatory for all units manufacturing and selling packaged drinking water.

Each water pouch should also carry the name and address of the manufacturer and the date of manufacture as well. Sanjay Mohanty, a resident of Kanika Chhak, said: "A lot of manufacturers do not print the manufacturing dates on the pouches."

Though the municipal corporation has launched a crackdown on roadside eateries and cold drink units, the health wing is yet to put a check on the sale of water pouches.

Municipal officials claimed that they had already destroyed more than two quintals of stale food in the past two days while two ice manufacturing units, including one at Jobra, have also been closed down.

City health officer P.K. Pradhan said: "We are now focusing on creating awareness on jaundice and detecting leakages in the pipelines to combat the outbreak. Last year, we had destroyed more than 15,000 water pouches that were being sold without manufacturing dates printed on them."

Pradhan said the public health engineering department had already taken measures to install water tanks at several jaundice-affected pockets to provide safe drinking water. Three jaundice cases have recently been reported at Mehendipur under ward No. 14 of Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

"After last year's outbreak, only few pipelines were changed on an emergency basis. Due to land rightsand ownership problems, the overall process for regularisation of unauthorised connections could not be completed here," said councillor Anjushree Jena.

Local residents alleged that most of the domestic connections still pass through the drainage channels. The drains, too, overflow round the clock.

"It has been proposed to upgrade the drainage channels at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh. However, the tender process is yet to be called," Jena added.