Down To Earth ground report finds Pakki Tibbi village suffering due to consumption of polluted water; poverty and illiteracy adding to disease burden
A reverse osmosis water treatment system installed in Pakki Tibbi village by the state government 10 years ago. The villagers pay out of their pocket to maintain the system. Photo: Vikas Choudhary / CSE_ Several villages in Punjab have a huge burden of diseases like cancer deaths, severe skin and dental issues and intellectual disabilities in children due to the consumption of water polluted by industry effluents and municipal waste. Pakki Tibbi, a village in the Muktsar district, also has a large number of non-communicable disease cases.
Some 2,000 people call Pakki Tibbi their home. Widespread poverty and illiteracy can be seen and this adds to the disease burden.
“There are 65 active cases of non-communicable diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease in the village,” Sunita, community health officer of the health and wellness centre in Pakki Tibbi, told Down To Earth.
Groundwater is the primary source of water for the villagers. At the entrance, there is a reverse osmosis water treatment system that the state government installed some ten years ago. Unlike other villages of Fazilka, the RO system in this village is functional.
This is because the villagers pool money to maintain the facility after it went defunct some five years ago. They pay the maintenance staff Rs 3,000 every month.
Only people living close to the RO system collect water from here. The rest get groundwater supply in their homes.
Some houses use water from the Sirhind canal, which is fed by the Sutlej river. Buddha nullah, a 40 kilometre long stream that runs through Ludhiana city, merges with Sutlej and pollutes it.
Dyeing and electroplating industries illegally dump their untreated wastes into the nullah, Anand Kumar, manager of the Tajpur Sewage Treatment Plant in Ludhiana, had earlier told this reporter.
The canal water was more widely consumed some 20-25 years ago. “But now, we see the carcasses of animals floating in the wateralmost every other day,” Trilochan Singh, a photographer and a resident of the village, said.
Between March and April, villagers reported that the canal water turns black. Two other villages in Fazilka district — Dharangwala and Churi Wala — have also flagged the same issue.
The wellness centre in the village does not have a doctor. The residents visit Abohar, a city in the Fazilka district, some 17 km away.
Pakki Tibbi has witnessed 20-25 cancer deaths in the last year, Singh pointed out.
Sunita, who has conducted a door-to-door survey, said the village has three active cancer cases, but the number could be much higher. “People are not aware and extremely poor, so they don’t go to doctors and get tested,” she said.
Singh and his neighbours have heard of the Mukh Mantri Punjab Cancer Raahat Kosh Scheme, which was set up by the Government of Punjab. Financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh is provided to cancer patients in the state.
“We will have to go to the district commissioner to avail the scheme. There is too much bureaucracy. Villagers are illiterate and they struggle to fill up forms,” Sukchain Singh, a 44-year-old farmer explained.
In addition to these diseases, residents suffer from premature ageing, similar to Gaunspur, and Burj Mohar villages. According to records, there are at least three children suffering from intellectual disabilities.
This story is part of a series on the health problems faced by people of Punjab due to pollution.
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