An epidemic of cholera mainly in the slums in the eastern part of Solapur city has affected 4,048 people, leaving nine dead in the last one week.
Speaking to The Hindu Solapur district Collector Jagadish Patil said, “The epidemic is in control now. Out of the nine people who died, three had tested positive for cholera. The other six died at home and their families did not allow authorities to conduct a post-mortem. However, doctors spoke to the family members and established that they had indeed suffered from cholera. The nine will be given Rs.1 lakh gratuitous relief as declared by the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan day before yesterday [Saturday].”
The first death, that of Dattatrey Survase (60) took place on February 28. Since then, eight others have died. In all, 3252 people were screened, 796 were admitted to different hospitals. The number of affected was thus 4048. G.M. Dulange, public health engineer of the SMC and in-charge of the Water Supply Department said, “There was leakage in a water line near Mohite Nagar coming from the master balancing reservoir. There were ponds of stagnant water near the spot of leakage. This water got mixed with the clean water, leading to contamination. As a result, the Mitragotri water tank of 2.7 million litres capacity received impure water. While the area under this tank is huge, the slum areas like Kranti Nagar, Bharat Ratna Indira Nagar, Shastri Nagar, etc. suffered the most.” Mr. Dulange said that after the epidemic came to light, the leakage in the water line from the master balancing reservoir was fixed.