K. Ganga is staring at an uncertain future after losing her husband Chinna Bheemaiah (27), one of the two residents of Madhapur’s Vaddera basthi who died due to alleged water contamination.
The tragedy has left her saddled with several responsibilities, which includes providing for her two sons, aged nine and three, and repaying the debt that the family had taken to build a small house in the basthi. Ganga is in her early 20s and works as a domestic maid.
“My younger son fell sick last Wednesday, When his condition turned serious the next day, I decided to take him to a hospital. My husband had started vomitting by then. He insisted that I leave him behind at home and take our younger son to hospital. He suffered alone and died the next morning,” sobs Ganga. Bheemaiah used to wash cars at an automobile showroom.
Many others in the locality who also suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea have undergone treatment at various government and private hospitals. Some are still under medical observation. The basthi residents said the doctors attributed their health condition to contaminated water.
Officials of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, however, maintain that water supplied to the locality is not contaminated and is of “good quality”. They said 44 samples were collected in the presence of Quality Assurance Team and local residents. “It was found that there is 0.5 ppm chlorine, hence water found is of good quality in this area and surrounding areas,” they said, adding that there was no bacteriological contamination in the water.
This assertion has left the basthi residents scratching their heads in disbelief. Looking blankly at her children, Ganga breaks down. “What will be my sons’ fate? I am an orphan. I have no one’s support. Have some mercy. Someone, please save us,” she pleads.
A little distance away is the home of Kannamma, an 88-year-old resident of the basthi who also died due to water ‘contamination’. She was taken to the Area Hospital in Kondapur on Friday, a day after she fell sick. From there, she was shifted to Gandhi Hospital. She finally breathed her last on Monday morning.
“Four more people from my family fell sick, but were lucky to have recovered,” says Selvi, Kannamma’s daughter-in-law.<EP>Two more people who were undergoing dialysis at Gandhi Hospital were shifted to a private hospital.
Basthi residents say that there is at least one person from each family in the locality who developed either vomiting or diarrhoea. The condition of a few of them turned serious, forcing them to seek medical help.
