Adulterated food, contaminated water claims 15 lives

LUCKNOW - At least 15 people in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district have died in the last 10 days after consuming adulterated food and contaminated water, prompting the state government to direct a sanitation drive, officials said Tuesday.

Health authorities, along with civic agencies, have been directed by the state government to conduct sanitation drives and check the sale of adulterated food items.

“Acting on the directions of the state government, we have constituted teams, which are camping in the affected villages,” chief medical officer Uma Kant Gupta told IANS on the telephone from Aligarh, about 300 km from here.

“Contaminated and substandard items used in ice-creams, chaats and water-borne diseases are primarily responsible for most of the deaths in several villages under Dronipur, Lodha, Gabhana blocks. I will personally visit these villages to take stock of the situation,” he added.

Officials in the medical department fear that the situation could become worse if adequate measures are not taken quickly.

Most of the villages, where the deaths have been reported, lack proper sanitation and garbage disposal mechanisms, they added.