: Taking serious note of water pollution caused by chromium, mercury, fluoride and iron in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, and Fatehpur districts, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has recommended forming an expert team of doctors to provide treatment to affected persons.
This team will comprise doctors from AIIMS-New Delhi, and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences-Lucknow, among others.
Other members of the team will be Dr Rajnarayan Tiwari, director of ICMR-National Institute for Research in Environment Health-Bhopal and Dr TK Joshi, former head of the department of epidemiology, RML Hospital-New Delhi.
The Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and the state’s secretary, health, will also be part of this team.
A three-member NGT bench passed the order on July 1. The bench comprised tribunal chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel.
The case relates to an application filed before NGT, New Delhi in 2019. Thereafter, three more applications were filed in 2019, 2023 and 2024, highlighting the presence of heavy metals in water in Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat and Fatehpur.
The tribunal had appointed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) to visit the affected districts and submit a report. The report was submitted in January this year.
{{/usCountry}}The tribunal had appointed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) to visit the affected districts and submit a report. The report was submitted in January this year.
{{/usCountry}}The tribunal also observed that no systematic health survey has been undertaken in any of the affected areas and diagnostic and testing facilities specific to heavy metal contamination have not been established in any of the three districts.
NGT also pointed out that no insurance or compensatory mechanism has been introduced for individuals suffering from chromium and mercury-related health complications.
The tribunal has listed the case on October 7 for the next hearing.
SUGGESTIONS TO EXPERT COMMITTEE BY NGT
* Suggest clinical design and executing protocol (SoP) for conducting diagnosis and treatment of persons contaminated with heavy metals and other chemicals.
* Lay down evidence- based protocol for treatment and medication.
* Provide timelines for execution of the diagnosis and treatment protocol.
* Evaluate precision of the results reported by the state.
* Create a schedule for monthly testing for all exposed individuals to track long-term health impact.
* Design long-term rehabilitation programmes, including nutritional aid, mental health of the affected individuals.
* Help set up heavy metal diagnostic labs in each affected district, equipped with testing for blood and urine samples.
Mapping and registration: Geotagging of households with confirmed and suspected exposure to chromium, mercury and fluoride must be done.
Inclusion of vulnerable groups: Special focus on health screening/ testing of pregnant women, children and senior citizens.
Deployment of mobile testing units: For remote villages to facilitate sample collection.
Referral hospitals: Establish a clear chain of referral hospitals with toxicology departments offering advanced treatment.
Experts/ specialist doctors’ visit: Monthly health camps must be attended by toxicologists, neurologists, nephrologists along with physicians and lab technicians.
Awareness programme: Implement public awareness campaigns about symptoms, risks and preventive measures regarding heavy metal toxicity.