Although health authorities and municipal corporation employees claim that they are making people aware about water-borne diseases and distributing chlorine tablets and ORS packets as precautionary measures,residents have a different story to tell. The residents of Tibba Road surprised Newsline team when one Gurnam Singh said,Boiled water does not taste good and hence I cannot drink. His neighbour Ramesh added,We are getting some chlorine tablets but its water tastes bitter. It is very difficult to drink that water and we cannot afford water purifiers or mineral water. Confirming such excuses,Dr Harkamal Sidhu,Deputy Medical Superintendent of BL Kapoor Memorial Hospital,said,Often patients give such excuses when I tell them to drink boiled water. So I advise them to add half a teaspoon of glucose in water before drinking so as to improve the taste of water. But it does not suit diabetic patients. One can also add condiment to water when it is being boiled to give a flavour. Dr Sidhu too agreed that chlorinated water tastes bitter,but added,In order to save yourself from infections,one has to follow rules,specially in illegal colonies and low-lying areas where chances of water infection are high. Dr Daljit Singh Kochar,District Health Officer,however,said,One chlorine tablet has to be added to 20 litres of water and one can drink it after half an hour. It is the primary duty of the corporation to chlorinate water but still we are providing tablets. Residents should not go for taste but see benefits. The taste has to be developed. Interestingly,a few even make wrong use of ORS packs. Newsline team saw Pratibha,a migrant worker living in Punjab Mata Nagar,adding ORS packet in water to be boiled while in the same vehra Sangeeta used ORS packet in boiling hot water against the instructions that ORS packet has to be emptied in boiled,cooled water and consumed within 24 hours. The migrants living in this vehra were reluctant to drink boiled water although they have been told to do so. Dr Sidhu,however,informed,What to talk of residents of low-lying areas,even educated persons also give the similar replies that they dont like boiled water. Suspected gastro death Today 10 cases of mild diarrhoea were reported from different hospitals. Last night,Sonu,a three-year-old girl reportedly died of gastroenteritis. Sonu was also resident of Subash Nagar. With this,the death toll has touched 3. Health authorities have not yet confirmed that whether the patient had gastroenteritis.
