Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Ponguru Narayana visited Rellis Colony on Pantakaluva Road in Vijayawada on June 24 (Monday) and inspected the quality of the drinking water supply there.
In view of the diarrhoeal outbreak in Jaggaiahpeta mandal and Kakinada, the Minister educated the public about dos and don’ts in the rainy season. “Six hundred water samples have been tested so far and no issues have been found,” he assured the residents.
He said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has reviewed the situation and instructed the officials on measures to prevent outbreaks in future. Pointing out that water can overflow from open drains during rains and get mixed with drinking water pipes leading to contamination, he instructed municipal authorities to remove the silt to ensure continuous flow in the drains.
“Drinking water lines and open drainage pipelines run parallel to each other. This is why we see water contamination happenig. Works are under way to fix the problem,” he said, admitting that there have been some delays due to financial constraints and assuring that it would be completed soon.
Vijayawada East Constituency MLA Gadde Rammohan Rao, who accompanied the Minister, said precautions are being taken to prevent such outbreaks in his constituency and that authorities are regularly inspecting the water quality in slum areas.
After visiting households in the colony along with the Minister, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar said the corporation is testing filtered water supplied from reservoirs regularly and plugging leaks near drains promptly.
Campaigns are under way during which health secretaries are making door-to-door visits advising people to drink boiled water, clean utensils with hot water, avoid stale food, clean their overhead tanks and keep them covered, he said.
