Lucknow: Panic Grips Residents, 2 Children Dead, Many Hospitalised After Drinking ‘Contaminated’ Water

Lucknow: Balu Adda, a poor locality near Hazratganj, one of the poshest areas of Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, has gone silent with shock and grief.

Two children reportedly died within a span of 24 hours and over 200 have been admitted to civil hospitals, including Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil Hospital, due to severe gastroenteritis suspected to have been caused by drinking ‘contaminated’ water, alleged local residents. Balu Adda has a population of almost 5,000 people.

Out of the 200 affected people, 100 are said to be children below 10 years of age, a dozen of them above 12 years old, the rest of them are middle-aged. All these people were admitted to the different civil hospitals following complaints of vomiting and diarrhoea-like symptoms. Family members of several patients alleged that hospital authorities denied treatment citing "shortage of beds".  Many of them said they had to rush to adjoining districts of Kanpur, Barabanki for the treatment.

Hussain Ali, a local resident who lost his 11- month-old son, Hamza, accused the Lucknow Municipal Corporation of not providing basic facilities to the people. Hamza would have turned one next week, and Hussain had planned to celebrate his first birthday but his dream of cutting his son’s birthday cake lies shattered

"My son started vomiting on Sunday night and we took him to a hospital near Nishatganj the next morning, but we could not save him, he died on my lap," Hussain said, tears rolling down his face.

He said a majority of those fallen sick are children. Two children have also died so far, said reports. He demanded financial assistance for the families of the deceased.

According to another resident who lost his son, since Sunday evening, people in the locality had started complaining of vomiting, diarrhoea and a burning sensation. Water supply in the society comes through underground boring, which is collected in overhead tanks, and as per the residents, the source of contamination could have been the tanks.

"There was a leakage in the drinking water pipeline and we made several attempts to reach the Jal Nigam with our requests for testing of water, chlorination of water being supplied to the houses, and repair of the broken pipelines, but the Jal Nigam employees never visited our area. This is what has resulted in the deaths," he said.

Speaking with NewsClick, another resident, Uma Shankar, said: "Most of the people, mainly children have been suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and stomach-related issues since Sunday evening. We are living in fear since two kids have died and at least dozen are in critical condition. We are poor people and don't have money for better treatment. We have been waiting for top officials to come and save the lives of our children."

Meanwhile, preliminary probe reports said the patients either fell sick due to consumption of contaminated water or were affected by food poisoning.

“It seems to be a case of infection either due to food poisoning or dirty water intake. The children came on Monday evening with acute diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. They all are recovering well,” Civil Hospital director Dr Subhash Sundriyal told the media.

However, the Jal Nigam has denied the allegation, saying no complaint of dirty water has been received from the area.

Ram Kailash, secretary of the Lucknow Jal Nigam department, said: “We received no such complaints regarding dirty water supply in Balu Adda area. However, a team of junior engineers collected samples of water from multiple spots of Balu Adda. An adequate amount of chlorine was found in all samples and the water was found safe for use. We are dedicated to providing safe potable water supply to houses."

Local residents, however, countered the secretary's statement, saying that some work had been going on in the sewer lines for the past two months. “For a long time, the local people have been pleading with the administration to finish this work, but no one listened. The authorities woke up from deep slumber after the death of two children. Had the media not featured this news prominently, the officials would have never paid a visit to inspect the area and the sewer would have never gotten cleaned," said a local resident.

Dr Manoj Agrawal, CMO, Lucknow, told NewsClick that some of the affected people developed symptoms like fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach ache, but delayed going to doctor until their condition deteriorated, adding that the actual cause behind the incident would only be clear once the medical team returns from Balu Adda.

Commenting on the incident, Ajitesh, a social activist who visited the area, said: "Most of the people of Balu Adda are poor and are engaged in daily wage labour, such as house cleaning and sweeping. They cannot afford treatment in private hospitals and government-run hospitals are not admitting them."

He said under the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2021-22, the Centre has allocated Rs 10,870 crore to the UP government, ahead of the Assembly polls on 2022. The amount was increased from Rs 2,571 crore in the fiscal 2020-21, and Rs 1,206 crore in 2019-20. However, the condition of drinking water supply in Lucknow is “questionable."

Ajitesh said the two children had died barely two and half kilometres from the residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's, while close to a hundred fell sick. "If this is the situation in a place close to the CM's residence, you can imagine what the situation will be like in rural areas of Bundelkhand?" he added.