NHRC notice to Govt on water contamination

NHRC notice to Govt on water contamination
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NAGPUR, OCT 7: In an unprecedented move, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has served a notice to the State Government, demanding a report on the water contamination situation allegedly affecting 3,000 villages in Vidarbha.

The contaminated water is alleged to have led to cases of at least three deaths and number of physical deformities in the tribal-dominated Kelapur area of Yavatmal district in the region.

The apex human rights body has warned the State government that if it failed to submit a report of the situation within four weeks, the commission would proceed to initiate action `as it deems proper'. The notice has been issued to the chief secretary of State on September 14.

The notice comes in response to a complaint filed with NHRC by the city-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which has been spearheading the agitation against the contaminated drinking water in number of areas in the region.

The case made by the organisation was strengthened after R R Patil, State Minister for Rural Development indirectly admitted to the failure of the State government to provide safe drinking water to tribal population residing in Chandrapur and Yavatmal districts of the region, during a press conference held in the city. During the same press conference, the minister announced a Rs 200 crore contingency plan of safe drinking water for these areas.

Several districts in the region, especially Chandrapur is known to be flourosis-endemic. Flourosis is a crippling disease which is mainly caused due to intake on drinking water with high limits of flouride. The symptoms shown by the Mangi and Kolam tribals of Kelapur area of Yavatmal district are similar to that of flourosis.

The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has claimed that the ground water in this area has high quantity of flouride and arsenic, both of which are considered toxic for human health. The Mangi and Kolam tribals in this area have to use ground water for drinking purposes as there is no provision of supply of treated drinking water in the area. This water-supply system was set-up by the State government in 1990 at the cost of about Rs 1,800 crores, after seeking a loan from the World Bank.

In its complaint to the NHRC, the organisation had alleged that the State government was responsible for the whole fiasco as it continued to supply the contaminated drinking water to the tribal populace in spite of the knowledge of the associated perils. The complaint held all the officers and organisations working under the state rural development department responsible for the deaths and physical deformities within the tribals.

A number of reports by the print as well as electronic media, including the reports of the press conference of the Rural Development Minister were cited by the organisation as proof for its contentions.

Meanwhile, Kishore Tiwari, president of the Jan Andolan Samiti has further attracted the attention of the State government to the fact that in spite of the announcement by the Rural Development Minister, water supply through tankers has not been started in the affected villages.