Chandigarh, March 13
The water they drink has been squeezing the life out of them . And they have been crying from the rooftop that potable water should be made available to them but their wails have gone unheard. Such is the fate of residents of Jajjal village, near Talwandi Sabo, in Bathinda district.
Many people in the village have died in the past few years of a disease having symptoms similar to cancer. Almost all residents of the village with a population of near by 3,000 believe that cancer has been stalking the village for the past many years.
“We have lost count of our dead in the past one decade or so”, says Mr Nazar Singh, who has been elected Sarpanch of the village for the third time in a row. Jeet Singh, Chota Singh, Bhola Singh, Surjit Singh, Mandir Singh, Amrik Singh, Gurbax Singh, Manjit Kaur, Beant Singh, Mohan Lal, Sudagar Singh, Harnam Kaur, Beant Kaur, Teja Singh, Sher Singh, Harnarain Singh have died in the past two years. A few others are on the death bed. The number of people suffering from various diseases such as arthritis is nearly 1,000, claims Mr Nazir Singh.
“I have been heading the village panchayat since 1993 and trying hard to free my village of the deadly disease(s) since then. I have met almost all chief ministers, local MLAs and others who matter at the state level, but my efforts have borne no fruit,” laments Mr Nazir Singh.
“Water has been proving the killer in our village. Even some PGI doctors, who have visited the village, testify that the water is not worth drinking. And the laboratories from where we have got the water tested in Chandigarh and elsewhere also say the same,” says the Sarpanch.
“On the advice of Mr Joginder Tyger, a doctor of the oriental system of
medicine, we have stopped drinking the village water now. We trek to Talwandi Sabo, about 5 km from the village, to fetch water either on tractor trailers or bullock carts”, says the Sarpanch.
The village panchayat has offered to give four acres of its land to set up a water plant in the village. It has also deposited Rs 1 lakh as the panchayat’s share with the authorities concerned. But it seems that the a pathetic condition of the village has failed to move the state government.
When contacted, Dr Joginder Tyger said he had held two camps in the village and examined about 400 patients a few days ago.” I have reached the conclusion that the drinking water is the killer in the village”, he asserts.
“The colour of the water is rusty. It is a hardy with a lot of toxic substances. Even the metal containers in which it is stored start rusting in a few days”, Dr Tyger adds. “ I have found that the kidneys and livers of most of the patients are not functioning properly. Malfunction of these organs leads to other problems such as an increase in the quantity of toxic matters in the blood that ultimately kills”, affirms the doctor.
“I am not charging a single penny from those who come to me for treatment. I even provide costly ayurvedic medicines free of cost”, says the doctor, who runs the Five Elements Health and Education Society at Fun-Ville on the Dakala road in Patiala.
