Jaundice outbreak hits Pulwama’s Bellov village

Pulwama, Mar 15: Residents of Bellov village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district have reported a jaundice outbreak in the area.
Locals residents of Bellov, a village around 5 kilometres from district headquarters in Pulwama, informed Rising Kashmir that many people particularly children have developed jaundice infections. They believe the infection has been caused by turbid water supplied to them.
Ghulam Hassan Wani, a local, said they are fed impure water from a water supply scheme. “The water tank has accumulated a lot of sediments in the past two years,” he said, accusing Jal Shakti Department Officials of failing to maintain proper sanitation despite their repeated pleas to clean the water tank of the supply scheme from the accumulated dirt.
The residents said that a new water supply scheme was assured to them by Jal Shakti department officials for which they were asked to identify the land. “We made land available for the new scheme,” the residents said, adding that the project is still not being implemented on the ground in the past two years.
The residents said the impure water has become a source of infection, especially among children. They urged authorities to provide them with pure drinking water.
Chief Medical Officer Pulwama, Dr Tahmeena, told Rising Kashmir that 9 cases of jaundice have been reported from Bellov village. “We have sent a team to the village and lifted water samples from there,” she said, adding that they are expecting the results to come within two days.
The authorities informed that the team of doctors advised residents to use boiled water for themselves and their children to keep the infection away.
Nisar Ahmad, Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Department Pulwama, said the water supply scheme for Bellov has two sources, a spring and a tubewell. The tubewell collapsed on March 11.
Ahmad said that through the spring source, the residents are fed pure drinking water. He assured of rectifying the tube well by Monday.