Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply, K N Nehru, has denied that contaminated drinking water was responsible for the recent diarrhoea outbreak and reported deaths in Woraiyur, Trichy District.
Responding to a special calling attention motion raised by Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami in the Assembly on Monday, April 21,the Minister cited preliminary reports to support his claims.
Nehru said that autopsy and lab reports had ruled out water contamination as the cause of death in the three reported cases. He clarified that the four-year-old child who died showed no signs of diarrhoea linked to contaminated water, according to the preliminary autopsy. A 90-year-old woman had reportedly been unwell for more than 10 days, while a 53-year-old woman, he said, suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away at home.
Acknowledging the outbreak, the Minister said that at least seven people in Wards 8 and 10 of the Trichy Corporation had exhibited symptoms of diarrhoea over the past few days. In response, a 286-member medical team — including doctors, nurses, and health inspectors — was deployed to the area. The team conducted door-to-door surveys, covering 1,492 households and screening 6,416 individuals.
According to the Minister, a total of 53 people, including 29 women and six children, were hospitalised. Five of them were referred to government hospitals for further treatment. Nine special medical teams held health camps in the locality and treated 28 people as outpatients. As a precautionary measure, oral rehydration solutions and medicines were distributed to 11,875 people.
The Minister also said that water samples collected from six different locations in the area were sent for testing and found to be safe for consumption. However, as a safety measure, the piped water supply was temporarily suspended, and drinking water was distributed through tankers.
He attributed the diarrhoea outbreak to the recent Chithirai car festival held in nearby rural areas, where food, buttermilk, and cold beverages were widely distributed. “These could have caused the infections. Since the Corporation and rural areas have separate water pipelines, there is no possibility that the drinking water was contaminated,” he said.
The Minister said that he has asked officials to identify and take action against those who distributed food and drinks at the festival.