People in village with diamond deposits die of kidney ailments Polluted water kills C’garh villagers
Raipur, June 17: Residents of a small village in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district are battling kidney-related ailments, which have claimed 64 lives in the last one decade.
The government authorities are yet to find the exact cause of these ailments, though residents of the Supebeda village said the contaminated drinking water was taking a toll on their health.
The village, deep inside a forest with barely any proper road to reach there, is located nearly 12 km from Deobhog in the Naxal-hit Gariaband district and around 220 km away from the state capital.
Supebeda has a population of around 1,500, comprising mostly scheduled caste and tribal people.
Ironically, while the Deobhog area is known for diamond deposits, its natives say they have no access to basic amenities like clean drinking water and health facilities.
As per the state health department records, 64 people died due to kidney related ailments since 2009 in the village. Tarun Kumar Sinha, 30, who is suffering from a kidney disease, said all his family’s savings have been spent and land sold for his treatment. “Now we have nothing left to continue my treatment,” he said.
Village sarpanch Sunita Nayak said a preliminary investigation conducted by government authorities revealed the water used from a borewell in the village had excessive heavy metal content following which it was shut. — PTI