Bhubaneswar, April 16: In 21st Century India when the city is taking smart steps, a tap at the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) is drawing people in the belief that its water can cure them of jaundice and a few other diseases.

The word about the so-called medicinal power of the tap's water in Acharya Vihar has spread beyond the city to places such as Khurda and Cuttack.

Vani Vihar resident Priyaranjan Mekap, a mechanical engineer, said that he had seen many people queuing up to fetch water from the IMMT campus during early morning and evening hours.

"Ever since my childhood, I have seen people repose faith in the tap's water. They believe that it has healing powers," said Mekap.

However, authorities of the institute, where people come in numbers to fetch water, or government agencies never felt the need to find out if there is any scientific basis in the claim.

Director of public health Kailash Chandra Dash said that no scientific studies had ever being carried out to find the so-called healing properties of the water.

"The belief that the water from the institute can cure is simply their perception. That is why they are flocking to the place," said Dash.

Vice-president of the Rationale Society Debendra Sutar was more categorical when asked about the so-called healing power of the water.

"No water can have the power to heal any disease," Sutar said.

He argued that the water from the stand post might be pure and of good quality. Continuous consumption of it kept people free from diseases and this could have led to the belief that the water had healing power, he added.

"There are many places in the state where people hold such beliefs. We cannot go on testing water on the basis of something that the people believes in," said an official of the public health department.

He said a similar belief was prevalent among the people about the water of hot spring at Atri in Khurda district. Though there is no scientific proof, people claim that the water of the hot spring cures skin diseases, he said.

The stand post at IMMT was earlier located outside its boundary wall and that gave everyone access to it. However, a few years ago the authorities shifted the stand post inside the campus. This led to a drop in the number of people coming to collect water.

A security guard of the institute said that the IMMT did not allow outsiders into the campus.

"However, we allow people to fetch water from the stand post because of their belief that it cures diseases," he said and added that on an average 40-50 people turn up everyday.

Asked if there was any justification in the people's belief, a senior technical officer of IMMT Pravat Kumar Sahu told The Telegraph that the source of the water was deep inside the ground. This, he said, might make the water rich in certain minerals.

"As the water is fresh and might have minerals in it, people think that it has healing power," said Sahu. Sahu said that the water was not stored in any tank and comes out of the stand post fresh twice a day for three hours each in the morning and in the evening.