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Cholera surfaces in Bombay

Cholera in Ulhasnagar and neighbouring suburbs of Kalyan, Ambernath and Badlapur from the first week of November has surfaced now in Bombay and New Bombay.

While the number of infected persons admitted to Central Hospital in Ulhasnagar rose to 261 (with 89 serious), 58 children from Airoli, Turbhe, Belapur and Vashi have been admitted to various private facilities in New Bombay after they complained of vomiting and nausea.

An alert has been sounded by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation authorities, who are asking people to boil water before drinking.

The discovery of two cases in Dadar and Wadala in Bombay has led to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation taking similar steps. Doctors claim that heightened awareness had led to people seeking quicker medical intervention.

Though the numbers began rising since the first week of November and there were two deaths on November 8, it took the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation until November 24 to alert the state health authorities. It wasn't until 144 patients (69 children among them in the age group 0-6) were in hospital that the directorate general of health services declared an epidemic in Ulhasnagar.

The epidemic should not come as a surprise to anyone, least of all head honchos of the UMC. For the fourth year, deaths from water-borne diseases have struck in a big way. Twenty-seven people have died of gastro-enteritis in three years.

The UMC lifts water from the Ulhas river for filtration and chlorination from the point at which effluents from the thickly populated Dhobhighat and Khemani are discharged by the main sewer.

It's a recipe for trouble. With sewage and effluents getting mixed freely with raw water, no amount of filtration, purification and chlorination helps.

And, as usual, various authorities are trading charges. Says Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation superintendent engineer S R Tidke, "We are being blamed for non-chlorination of water but the UMC and MIDC jointly monitor chlorination levels daily. Besides, how do they expect mere chlorination to purify sewage?''

Incidentally, the results from joint monitoring, signed by MIDC and UMC officials for 15 days shows that the samples were fine.

Tidke believes that the UMC is shifting blame. "If there was a problem with chlorination why didn't the UMC staff say so?'' he asks. UMC Commissioner R D Shinde refuses to get drawn into the controversy but asserts that steps are being taken to ward off infection.

Despite Shinde's assertion, there is little evidence of the sanitation staff being put on alert. Piles of garbage and choked gutters remain untouched. Shinde blames staff shortage but insists that "we are doing our best'' without bothering to quantify.

Even as blame-shifting goes on, what is certain is that cholera was carried by rusty old and leaking water pipes that run through gutters all over the city. "The township has developed without planning,'' explained Shinde, "almost the entire pipe network dates back to World War II military camp for Allied armies. There are no maps or plans of the network.''

Besides, over 90 per cent of the buildings are illegal and built without any attention to sanitation and water supply needs. The pipelines are either buried under illegal constructions or pass through gutters. Water supply is erratic, leading to most residents using booster pumps.

"This creates a vacuum in pipes and gutter water seeps in from joints,'' explained Shinde, who added, "The clutter of the pipes also makes cleaning gutters difficult.''

Mayor Hardas Makhija is furious since all remind him how his ward is the dirtiest. He was among seven residents who approached the high court on February 14, 1999 about the "virtual non-goverance and total lack of hygiene and sanitation in the city.'' The HC had appointed a two-member panel of former BMC commissioners DM Sukhtankar and S S Tinaikar who had made 11 suggestions to improve general cleanliness and sanitation. "Not one recommendation was implemented,'' says Makhija.

But UMC corporators Lal Punjabi and Narendra Rajani say, "It was okay for him to protest when he was in the opposition. But after coming to power and being mayor for over a year he has been ineffective in getting even his own ward cleaned up.''

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