Vigilance squad to review hosp treating GBS patients

The well, which is 50 years old, is owned by the Kanade family

- Siddharth Gadkari

PUNE: Eighty per cent of the reported cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) are from areas around a well in Nanded village on Sinhagad Road which supplies water to the adjoining villages. The revelation was made by state health minister Prakash Abitkar during his visit yesterday to take stock of the GBS situation.

The well, which is more than 50 years old, is owned by the Kanade family and is used to store water. According to local residents, the well gets untreated water from Khadakwasla which is then supplied as it is (without any purification process) to Kirkatwadi, Nanded, parts of Dhayari, Kolhewadi and Khadakwasla through powerful pumps.

It is said that till about five years ago when the well was under the Gram Panchayat, it was regularly cleaned by the local body. However, following the 2021 takeover by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the cleaning is not carried out effectively, according to the locals. Allegedly, it is this well which is the source of Campylobacter Jejuni, a bacterium that can trigger GBS.

Kajal Hagawane, former deputy sarpanch of Kirkatwadi, said that the well was dug by a local resident on his land around 50 years ago. "The PMC should reconstruct the well. It is on the side of the road with no proper compound wall around it. A wall should be erected so that it is protected from any sort of contamination," she said.

Gokul Karanjawane, former sarpanch of Kirkatwadi, said that a filtration plant is needed in the absence of regular chlorination. However, PMC officials denied allegations that chlorination was never carried out.