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Concern over purity quotient of river Barak

By Correspondent

SILCHAR, March 23 - The need to examine the purity quotient of the water of river Barak was once again raised on the World Water Day. According to environmental experts here, the Environmental and Forest Department have expressed concern over the dumping of over 10 lakh litres of waste products into the river water only at Silchar.

Noted researcher Dr NI Laskar has been busy in researching the quality of water of river Barak for more than a decade now. In his words, �Around 10 tons of faecal substances, innumerable number of animal corpse are thrown into the river almost every day.� Dr Laskar suspects that because of the unabated practices, many water-borne diseases might affect the lives of the people who consume the river water. Dr Laskar was quick to raise questions on the quality of supply of drinking water from the PHE plant at Sadarghat.

On the other hand, Assistant Executive Engineer of PHE at Silchar, Amitabha Choudhury claimed that barring the Panchgram Paper Mill area, water of river Barak is much cleaner and safer in Cachar district. �Since there are no industries in close vicinity, no chemical substances are getting mixed in the river water. The faecal substances which are falling in the water do not cause much contamination. We are able to supply pure and clean drinking water to the people in the district,� Choudhury said. However, he was quick to say that despite steps taken to construct toilets at Kalibari Char area of the city, people are misusing the facilities for which the local civic board must take steps.

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