The Himachal Pradesh High Court today reserved its order in a matter relating to the supply of contaminated water, resulting in jaundice outbreak here and observed that due to apathy of the authorities concerned, people of Shimla town did not have access to clean drinking water and were falling prey to many water-borne diseases.
The HC issued direction to the PGIMER, Chandigarh, to submit details of all those persons from the state who died in PGI, Chandigarh, due to the disease from December 2015 till date.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, passed these orders on a petition taken upsuo motuby the Court as Public Interest Litigation on the basis of news items published in newspapers on January 3 last, regarding supply of contaminated water in Shimla.
During the hearing, it was observed by the court that drinking water is one of the basic necessities of human existence and because of the apathy on the part of the authorities concerned, the people of Shimla town did not have access to clean drinking water and falling prey to many water- borne diseases.
It was reported in newspapers that Ashwani Khud water, which caters to the need of drinking water of 33 per cent population of Shimla town, is highly contaminated.
The newspapers reports even suggested that the sewage mixed water was being supplied to the residents, which has created an epidemic-like situation in the town and other water-borne diseases are engulfing the people of Shimla.
Meanwhile, lawyers today took out a protest march and went to Raj Bhawan also staged a sit-in in front of the state secretariat to protest against the "failure" of the government to check the spread of jaundice.
The lawyers alleged that three of their colleagues and several other persons have succumbed to the disease but the authorities concerned have failed to take any effective action.
Local BJP activists led by Suresh Bharadwaj performed a "havan" in Khilani to seek divine intervention for protection against jaundice.
Bharadwaj said that it was aimed at assuring the people that the party was with them and due to "utter failure" of the government to check the disease, the only way left was to pray.
He claimed that the number of patients had crossed 15,000 but the government was suppressing it and even the number of persons succumbed to the disease was in double digit.
