The high concentration of fluoride in ground water, which causes fluorosis, has already worried people living in 22 revenue villages of Udalguri district as per survey by the Public Health Engineering Department, Tangla in the year 2016 . Deadly Fluorosis is a disease in which the teeth and bones become brittle. The latest threat has emerged from Ward No. 3 of Tangla town as there have been traces of high fluoride and deadly arsenic in ground water. Several people in Ward No. 3 have reported paralysis, cancer and disability related cases. The places neighbouring the town like Chamuapra, Borjalah, Milanpur and Medhipara Chuba have also recorded high fluoride content.
According to a report, underground water of 20-60 ft range of the town recorded fluoride content ranging from 1.7 -2.5 milligram per litre of water. The people of Tangla have been using hand pump water for household purposes for the past five years. The people of Tangla have been deprived of potable drinking water facility by the government. The water supply scheme of Tangla Town Committee (TTC) has been lying defunct since November 2012 due to liabilities of electricity bill to APDCL amounting to Rs. 28,60887 as of 2011 as per statistics received from TTC authorities.
The two water reservoir of TTC in Chitranagar and Jalukbari area of Tangla are lying in pitiable condition. There were a total of 379 consumers who were supposed to pay Rs. 40 per month for the service. An amount of Rs.441788 is also due to be paid by the consumers to TTC. The incumbent chairman of TTC who is none other than Bonjar Daimari Executive Member of BTC is alleged to have been running tyrannical governance in the functioning of the TTC. The TTC which despite generating huge amount of revenue has not paid wages to 13 of its official staffs for 12 months amounting to Rs.41,61655 as of June 2017. The Town has a population of 50000 and four wards.
Informing this correspondent on condition of anonymity a JE of TTC said, “The water reservoirs have been damaged along with the pipelines. There need to be a new water supply project.” It is here to be mentioned that on many occasions, BTC supremo Hagrama Mohilary had himself assured of starting up water supply scheme for providing potable drinking water to the people of the town. But no such steps have been taken till now.
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