Fears of fluorosis stalks Chintalbori again

[pfpcnews]

Fears of fluorosis stalks Chintalbori again

NewWindPress.com - October 6, 2007

ADILABAD: Despite its proximity to the district headquarters town of Adilabad, Chintalbori hamlet is fighting a losing battle against the dreaded fluorosis.

Afficial apathy and pesky local leadership have undone what little was done in the name of fluorosis-fighting in this hamlet. The result? Fears of crunched knees, bent bones and atrophied bodies are stalking the locals once again.

Chintalbori in Kachkanti gram panchayat, 8 km from Adilabad town, has been declared a fluorosis affected habitation after prolonged agitations.

As part of the alleviatory measues, a borewell was sunk in an area of low fluoride content and was linked to a 40,000 litre capacity tank through a three km long pipeline to supply safe drinking water.

For about an year, things were in place and the villagers had their share of safe drinking water. However, the problems re-visited them after the pipeline was washed away during last year’s floods forcing them to using the high fluoride water.

The village sarpanch and her politically well-connected hubby in the meantime diverted the water from the borewell to irrigate their farm lands. Interestingly, the panchayat is still paying the borewell power bills in the name of a non-existent water scheme.

However, fearing reprisals, the locals are not questioning the sarpanch. When this website's newspaper, visited the village, the villagers even shied away from discussing the issue.

They only hope that the Government restores the lost pipe linkage and ensures supply of safe drinking water. When contacted, Adilabad MPDO G Jitender Reddy feigned ignorance about the issue and said he would direct the officials to sort out the issue at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the villagers continue to suffer. The borewell connection was disconnected with pipe line of the village water tank and it is connected to the pipeline, which is supplying water to the fields of the Kachkanti village sarpanch in Adilabad district.

SOURCE:
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.as ... sh&Topic=0