The parliamentary committee on estimates called the government’s claim that arsenic testing kits, used to check groundwater contamination, could not be procured since they are “very costly” as “unacce
The parliamentary committee on estimates called the government’s claim that arsenic testing kits, used to check groundwater contamination, could not be procured since they are “very costly” as “unacceptable.”
The 19th report of the committee on “occurrence of high arsenic content in groundwater” reprimanded the water ministry and urged it to take up the matter with other ministries and state governments. The report was tabled in the Parliament on August 11.
In 2014, the committee had recommended distribution of arsenic testing kits for free in areas where arsenic contamination in groundwater is worse such as in West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In response to the suggestion, the water ministry told the committee in 2015 that it is the ministry of drinking water and sanitation that reserves 3 per cent of allocation to all states for water-quality mo-nitoring and surveillance activities that include procurement of field testing kits.
For arsenic content testing, however, a separate procedure is done using arsenic test kit — arsenator — the water ministry informed, adding, “These are relatively very costly and also require certain degree of skill.” To the ministry’s response, the committee, headed by Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, sternly remarked: “The ministry (water resources), instead of initiating appropriate action for implementing the recommendation, has simply shifted the onus on the ministry of drinking water and sanitation.”
“The plea that the arsenic testing kits are very costly is not acceptable to the committee since it is a serious question of life, health and livelihood of the arsenic affected people,” the comm-ittee noted. It further said, “The committee therefore reiterates that the ministry must take up the matter with other concerned ministries and state governments and apprise them of the steps taken.”
Over 6 lakh people in India are suspected to be exposed to arsenic contaminated ground water leading to cancer.
“The matter may be taken up with the ministry of finance for allocation of more funds so that necessary kits become available to the affected people,” the committee concluded.
Why arsenic is dangerous Arsenic is an odourless and tasteless metalloid widely distributed in the earth’s crust As it occurs naturally in the environment, it can enter drinking water through the ground or as runoffs into surface water sources Arsenic leads to skin damage and diseases of the vascular system. Other health problems, such as diabetes and adverse reproductive outcomes have also been observed. In India, significant arsenic contamination in groundwater was detected in 1983 in Bengal. It is suspected that 6 million are exposed to arse-nic contaminated groundwater in the country. Other states affected from occurrences of arsenic in ground water are Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
