CAG indicts previous BJD Govt for poor sanitation standards

Bhubaneswar: In a startling revelation, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has severely indicted earlier BJD government, led by Naveen Patnaik, for serious financial irregularities involving Rs 3,045.44 crore between 2017 and 2022 towards stormwater drain and sewerage management by municipal corporations and the Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The report is a scathing indictment of the poor sanitation standards adopted by the previous BJD government.

Nearly half a crore people in Odisha were affected by acute diarrhoea and typhoid, while thousands more suffered from hepatitis and renal diseases in the five years between 2017-18 and 2021-22 due to the use of contaminated water, the report stated.

In its Performance Audit Report on Storm Water Drainage and Sewerage Management Systems in Municipal Corporations for the year ending 31 March 2022 tabled in the Assembly on Saturday, the report underlined that use of polluted water even resulted in mental imbalance, miscarriages and cancer.

Citing information furnished by the Health department for the financial years from 2017-18 to 2021-22, the CAG stated that a total 42,23,675 persons were affected by acute diarrhoea and dysentery during the period. Acute diarrhoea disease (ADD) had maximum health impact in Ganjam district, covering Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC), where no sewerage projects had been implemented.

Approximately, 2,84,805 people in Ganjam were affected by ADD between 2017-18 and 2021-22. It was followed by Khurda with 2,22,746, Sundargarh with 2,11,693, Cuttack with 1,15,120 and Sambalpur with 94,815 cases of ADD. This meant, five districts accounted for nearly 1 million cases of the total 4.2 million mentioned in the report.

Typhoid remained the second major disease arising out of contaminated water, the CAG report said, adding that 4,62,660 people suffered from the disease during the period. The districts most affected were Khurda with 18,164 cases, followed by Sundargarh (17,563), Ganjam (13,006), Cuttack (12,109) and Sambalpur (5,902).

Hepatitis also impacted 12,442 people in this period with Sambalpur being the most-affected district, followed by Cuttack. Around 11,600 people also suffered from renal diseases. Khurda district had the maximum incidence of renal disease, followed by Cuttack, Sundargarh, Ganjam and Sambalpur, the CAG stated. 

The audit watchdog underlined that the reported health disorders, arising due to use of contaminated water, also include disorders relating to skin, digestive, respiratory and nervous systems, kidneys, spinal cord and heart, mental imbalance, miscarriage, and cancer.

The CAG audit found delay in implementation of sewerage projects, delayed by nine to 14 years, had severe environmental impact. The waste water discharged directly into Mahanadi, Kathajodi, Kuakhai, Daya, Gangua, Brahmani and the Bay of Bengal, caused water contamination.

It also found presence of heavy metals including nickel, lead and cadmium in cauliflower, coriander leaf, radish, green leaf (sag), brinjal and cabbage in samples of vegetable crops grown using contaminated water collected by the audit team with the help of soil science department of OUAT in February 2023. The presence of toxic elements in vegetable crops poses serious threat to human and animal health, the report stated.

The audit also observed that none of the five municipal corporations could implement the sewerage projects fully in their jurisdiction within the deadline of April 2020 and came down heavily on Odisha State Pollution Control Board for its failure to levy and collect environment compensation to the tune of Rs 1,239 crore for the same.

“As per NGT instructions (2018), treatment of 100 per cent sewerage was to be ensured by March 2020. In case of non-compliance of sewerage treatment plants, the local bodies would be liable to pay EC, with effect from April 2020 onwards,” the CAG stated.

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