Kolkata, February 17 Several residents, including children and elderly individuals, reportedly fell ill after consuming contaminated drinking water at a housing complex in New Town, prompting the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) to launch an investigation and set up a medical camp, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Residents, particularly in the E-Block of the 522-tower complex of Shapoorji Sukhabrishti housing, have complained of vomiting, fever, body aches, and other infections over the past few days, he added.
"The overhead tanks are not cleaned regularly. There has been a foul smell and the tap water has a dark yellowish tinge," alleged Sudhir Mondal, a resident.
He said that his two daughters were admitted to a private hospital after falling sick.
"They are undergoing treatment after being affected by the contaminated water," Mondal alleged.
Another resident, Banshree Nag, alleged that reservoirs and pipelines had not been cleaned in three years.
"My one-and-a-half-year-old child has fallen ill due to the contamination," she claimed.
The housing authorities have not responded to the allegations.
An NKDA official said that government-supplied water was not contaminated.
"If that was the case, the entire New Town would have been affected. This seems confined to the E-Block of the complex," the official said.
Water samples were collected on Tuesday to ascertain the cause.
Officials said that more than 100 overhead tanks have been cleaned so far and the remaining ones, along with reservoirs of five-lakh-litre and 2.5-lakh-litre capacity, will be sanitised as part of the exercise.