Cuttack, April 5: The civic body has pulled up its socks to maintain proper sanitation in the city in the aftermath of jaundice outbreak.
From tomorrow, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation will launch a drive to clear major drainage channels of various regions, particularly jaundice-hit Jobra, off squatters. The move aims to check pollution by stopping release of sewage directly into the channels.
A senior civic body official said slum dwellers, who directly released sewage into the drains every day, encroached on vast stretches of the channels. Besides, many households lack septic tanks - which has attributed to contamination of drinking water and subsequent hepatitis outbreak here.
Municipal officials today conducted a survey to identify the squatters, who do not have toilets and septic tank facilities in several localities at Jobra.
So far, more than 54 persons have been affected by the hepatitis virus, while 45 cases have been reported from four localities at Jobra.
"Our focus will now be on to maintain sanitation and ensure eviction of all illegal constructions on drains at the earliest," said municipal commissioner Gyana Das.
Yesterday while taking stock of the jaundice outbreak situation here, housing and urban development secretary G.M. Vathanan also admitted that ground water was getting contaminated due to open defecation. He also expressed concern over poor sanitation measures and directed the corporation officials to conduct a survey to identify households that lack toilets.
"The locality lacks proper sanitation, and the civic body is promising action only after the jaundice outbreak," said local resident Nizam Khan.
Khan alleged that as most of the hepatitis cases had been reported from the slum areas, the corporation should focus of setting up adequate community toilets.
Public health officials have also intensified measures to replace old pipelines at Jobra and other parts, including Mehendipir, Mahidasbazar and Kesharpur, from where several jaundice cases have been reported.
Sources said that more than 140 old pipelines, including 27 domestic ones, were replaced in the jaundice-affected areas. "We have also replaced two sub-branch distribution pipelines at Jobra, where leakages were detected in the past two days. Already, drinking water is being supplied here through 33 plastic tanks," said public health engineering department's assistant executive engineer Bhawani Shanakar Mohanty.
