A Parliamentary panel today recommended scrapping of "relaxed" permissible limit for arsenic in drinking water and said the WHO recommended norms should be complied with.
In its report on arsenic in water, the Estimates Committee of Parliament said it has not found any scientific basis in the Bureau of Indian Standards prescription of maximum permissible limit for arsenic in drinking water as 0.05 mg/l (milligram per litre) which is higher than WHO standard of 0.01mg/l.
The Committee, headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, found that the WHO standard was "relaxed" merely due to abundandance of arsenic in ground water and lack of alternative source of water.
It said no notification or order was found in records to point out as to who relaxed the norms.
"The Committee have cautioned that there should be no compromise on the health of the people as it is the duty of the State to improve the public health which includes provision of safe drinking water as enshrined in Article 47," the report, the first by the Committee, reconstituted after the formation of the 16th Lok Sabha, said.
Briefing reporters after tabling the report, Joshi said this is for the first time that a Parliamentary panel has taken up the subject of arsenic in drinking water.
He said the first case of arsenic in water in the country came to light in 1976 in Chandigarh.
The report said arsenic in ground water has so far claimed over one lakh lives and two to three lakh confirmed cases of illness.
A total of eight ministries and departments were asked to appear before the committee to help it finalise the report.
