The Hindu : Plight of fluorosis-hit moves Barnala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Plight of fluorosis-hit moves Barnala

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD March 3. The leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and Nalgonda MLA, Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy, appealed to the Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, to direct the Government to immediately take up a scheme for supply of safe drinking water to the fluoride-affected villages of Nalgonda.

The Congress legislators accompanied a delegation of 19 fluoride-affected villagers from Nalgonda district comprising mostly children and adults who experienced retarded development. They complained that the Government was "sitting'' on a High Court order of August 1, 2001, which had directed that safe drinking water be provided "on a war-footing'' to all villages where the fluoride content exceeds permissible limits.

Against the WHO prescribed permissible limit of 1.5 to 3 PPM, water in these villages ranges between 10 and 12 PPM, they pointed out. Bone deformities, loss of eyesight, diabetes, spinal chord problems, dental problems and mental retardation are some of the different diseases caused by high fluoride content in drinking water.

Responding to the plight of the villagers, Mr. Barnala expressed his desire to personally visit these villages to understand the predicament. He made detailed enquiries regarding the problem. He asked Dr. Reddy how long the problem had existed, now many villages and people were affected and whether deeper borewells would not mitigate the problem to a large extent.

Dr. Reddy replied that while the problem was decades old, the severe drought conditions had made the problem worse. He added that over 2 lakh people in Nalgonda had health problems due to fluoride in drinking water. Dr. Reddy added that the deeper one drilled, the more fluoride there was in the water making it difficult to find local solutions.

He told the Governor that by not acting on the High Court's directive, the Government was not only in breach of the court orders but was also displaying "callousness'' towards lakhs of citizens.

Dr. Reddy added that the best solution was to use the waters of the Krishna river to source drinking water for the affected villages as this river borders the district and is close to many affected villages. He wanted the Governor to direct the Government to supply Krishna river water to these villages through pipeline.

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