HC seeks Punjab govt reply

HC seeks Punjab govt reply 22 Dec 2007, 0159 hrs IST,Vishal Sharma

Coming to the rescue of hapless villagers in Punjab, who are virtually drinking poison in the name of water, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a notice of motion to the state for January 22, on Friday. The court did this while treating a report published on December 18 in the TOI as a public interest litigation (PIL). Expressing anguish over the horrific state of affairs shown through the TOI report based on a PGIMER, Chandigarh, inquiry spanning two years, the division bench, comprising chief justice Vijender Jain and justice Mahesh Grover, sought Punjab’s reply on the issue. The report had caught the high court’s attention on December 18 itself. The division bench, comprising justices KS Garewal and Daya Chaudhary, had termed the contents of the report as "frightening" reflection on the scenario prevailing in Punjab’s villages. Justices Garewal and Chaudhary, made a quick note of the points of concern as highlighted in the report and referred the matter to the chief justice requesting him to examine the contents of the report and treat it as a PIL. The PGIMER team of experts had probed the effects of industrial waste and pesticides on human health in 25 Punjab villages located near five open drains. The study found varying degrees of DNA mutation in 65% of the blood samples taken. It also detected genetic damage in some cases. That was not all. The drinking water in these villages had turned toxic due to a high concentration of heavy metals such as mercury, copper, cadmium, chromium and lead. The report had brought to fore the fact of numbness, miscarriages and skin ailments affecting the residents of Mahal village in Amritsar district. The principal investigator, Dr JS Thakur, had outlined the possible scenarios caused by genotoxicity, a condition in which lethal chemicals gather in the body leading to DNA damage. The news report had stated that in future, more children will be born with congenital malformations like cleft lip, half skull or no skull, growth retardation. Pregnant women will have more sudden, "spontaneous" abortions, the report said.