Over the past two days, more than 35 residents of Dattnagar Housing Society have been treated for gastroenteritis, while more than 150 have displayed symptoms similar to that of the disease.

While the society residents claimed to have been receiving contaminated water -- they hold it responsible for the disease -- for the past one month, they said the authorities swung into action only after a number of complaints of loose motions and nausea. According to unofficial figures, more than 80 people are suffering from gastro-enteritis.

While the Vadodara Municipal Corporation claimed not a single person had been admitted to a private hospital, the residents said quite a few people had been admitted to the Yogini Vasantdevi Hospital.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner (General) I B Peerzada told Express Newsline that though some gastroenteritis cases had been reported at the Jamnabai Hospital, the patients did not come from the Dattnagar Society. He admitted, however, that the cases had been caused by the contamination of potable water with sewage.

``This is the first time that something like this has happened in 35 years, and it happened all of a sudden on Saturday night'', said Baburao Bhole, one of the affected persons.

Sumitra Patel, who is on drip, alleged the authorities had not done anything despite several representations. ``During the first 10 minutes of the half-hour water supply, the water is reddish or yellowish in colour'', says Shantilal Patel, another resident.

Ramesh Desai, another resident, said medical teams arrived at the spot only after local councillor Chandrakant Shrivastav talked to the higher authorities. Chlorine tablets have been distributed in the area and other residents of the society -- it has 124 blocks -- have been also given medicines as a precautionary measure.

In-charge city engineer B S Trapasia said they were trying to detect the fault and, in the meanwhile, were cleaning the nearby storm water drains and drainage lines. The results of the water sample tests would be known on Tuesday, he added.

While health and engineering teams have been posted here for the past two days, the VMC is yet to restore potable water supply to Nalbandhwada in Gajrawadi, though the residents -- led by local councillor Nirmala Gandhi -- submitted coloured water samples some days ago.

Trapasia said that while one fault had been detected, they were supplying water in tankers. Normal water supply had not been restored as there was likely to be another fault, he added.

Meanwhile at a meeting, in-charge Municipal Commissioner Anil Mukim asked the administration to intensify safai work and expedite the process of detecting the fault.

Peerzada said that from Monday, the teams had started cleaning-up operations in the afternoon in certain areas. The work would be further intensified after the majority of the workers returned to duty with the end of the wedding season.