Contaminated Water Consumption Leads To 14 Deaths, Kidney Failures In Maharashtra Village

Reportedly, at least 38 residents of Asola Village in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district were hospitalized after consuming contaminated water. According to the latest reports, around 14 people have lost their lives due to the alleged presence of toxins in a 250-feet borewell. Even doctors have stated that many patients were reported with kidney failures after drinking borewell water.

Not only in Asola, but people are also getting sick all over the State due to the same problem.

Water Crisis

India is facing a water crisis not only in urban areas but also in the rural part of the country. Years of institutional and political incompetence, mismanagement of resources, and a wide gap at centre, state, and municipal levels have turned out to be a constant failure in meeting the demands of mushrooming middle class for clean water to drink. Even if the government has tried to come up with any serious project or cost-effective technologies to provide quality and quantity water, pervasive corruption and lack of seriousness among the assigned authorities became an impediment to implement or regulate such plans in a proper manner.

At present, almost all the water bodies in populated centres of India are becoming grossly polluted with hazardous and organic pollutants. Also, interstate disputes over sharing of river waters are becoming increasingly intense. Moreover, it would be hard to find any household that has been provided with clean tap water. The condition of both the surface and groundwater is worse than ever.

In 2017, the Maharashtra government shifted some of the Mumbai’s poorest residents to the outskirts of the city where people are consuming water that is slick with oil and rich in industrial waste.

Situation of Asola Village in Maharashtra

According to locals, after admitting 38 patients to the hospital, 110 more cases have been reported with similar Kidney related issues.

“Many people are facing Kidney related problem. We informed the government about this, but no proper arrangement has been made in this matter. We want proper medical facility,” IANS quoted a local.

Unfortunately, there is no other water source in Asola village. Therefore, the villagers end up using water from the 250-feet borewell. So far, no single official has come forward to provide alternative drinking water facility to the locals. Also, the villagers have said that despite informing about their grievances to the concerned officials, the government is not paying any attention to the issue.

The experts stated that the borewell is polluted with nitrate and persistent use of water for drinking and cooking is damaging the kidney of the locals. Dr Abhyuday Meghe of OSDM Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital also confirmed that the admitted patients had been tested with a high amount of Keratin as the presence of high levels of nitrate in the water.

Notably, the rural hospital has sent a team of four doctors to set-up a check-up camp in the village.

What Yavatmal Guardian Minister Has To Say About The Crisis?

On asking over the ongoing crisis, Yavatmal Guardian Minister Madan Yerawar told The Times of India that kidney problems could occur due to hypertension and ageing.

As per Times of India, the minister reached the village on Sunday, and he first summoned Ajay Rathore, a lab technician living in Asola, who first raised the alarm about the crisis by filing a complaint with the district collector. The minister asked Rathore, “So it is you who said that people have died of kidney failure. Please tell the cause as well. Do you know kidney problems can happen due to ageing, hypertension and even diabetes? You claim the water is contaminated here. I know the entire area thoroughly, why are there no deaths in neighbouring villages.”

Moreover, the minister has asked for the sealing of shops that have sold pain relief medicines to the patients without any prescription.

With other villagers, Rathore is requesting authorities to supply water to the villagers only after it gets treated. However, the government seems to be more interested in knowing whether the kidney failures were due to water or other causes.