A Silent Threat in the Water? Children and Elderly Fall Ill in Assam's Jonai

GUWAHATI: Residents of a settlement at 1 No. Purana Jelam Pathar under the Jonai subdivision in Assam's Dhemaji district are gripped by panic following an outbreak of an unidentified illness, which locals believe has been triggered by contaminated drinking water.

The affected families are originally from Shivguri village, which was devastated by massive floods caused by the Siang river several years ago. The displaced residents established their new settlement at 1 No. Purana Jelam Pathar in Jonai after losing their homes and land. The villagers claim that the government only provided them with little financial support during their rehabilitation process.

Villagers have reported health issues which have affected people of all ages, including children and women and elderly residents. Residents believe that multiple households have been affected by an unidentified illness which has not yet received medical confirmation of its actual cause.

A resident spoke to the media about their life challenges which started after the floods from the previous year.

“Last year during floods we had to shift to relief camps, following which the state government helped us with some financial assistance for one time. The funds enabled us to purchase land. The organization has not given us any facilities since that time. The family continues to live on by using water from the well situated close to a tea garden. The water appears to be polluted and it is causing health problems for our family members. The resident said that we lack the financial resources needed to excavate a new water source which costs approximately Rs 50,000. That’s not possible for us at this moment,” the resident said.

The villagers believe that the crisis originates from the severe shortage of clean drinking water in their region. They claim that the community does not have any government-operated drinking water facilities. The residents need to use well water which they access from a location that is close to a private tea estate.

Local people believe that chemicals which tea gardens use to grow plants have contaminated the well water and created dangerous health conditions. The people claim that their financial difficulties force them to keep using the same water source.

Another resident expressed similar concerns, saying,

“The medicines that are used to cultivate tea leaves might have got mixed here in the well, following which itching and other skin diseases are taking place in our village. The medicines that are sprayed on tea leaves are mixed with water for spraying. We suspect that contaminated buckets are being used to take water from the well, due to which locals are suffering. Apart from this, we also don’t have electricity facility available here.”

According to residents, the rehabilitation process has failed to provide basic infrastructure, including proper roads, electricity and access to clean drinking water. They allege that repeated appeals to authorities for essential civic services have not yielded adequate results.

With the number of sick residents reportedly increasing, villagers have urged the state government, the district administration and relevant departments to immediately organise medical camps, conduct water quality testing and ensure the supply of safe drinking water. They have also called for urgent provision of basic civic amenities to prevent further deterioration of the situation.

It may be mentioned that no official statement has been issued by officials who are responsible for the outbreak because they have not disclosed any information about the residents' allegations.

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