Jaundice spread: Two officials suspended, one transfered

After the arrest of two officials, Himachal Pradesh government today suspended two senior officers and transfered another in connection with alleged contamination of water that resulted in spread of jaundice here.
Executive Engineer Vinod Kumar and SDE S C Chauhan were placed under suspension while Superintending Engineer Sushil Kumar Justa was transferred by the government, an official said.
Earlier, a Junior Engineer and supervisor at Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) were arrested a few days back over alleged contamination of drinking water which led to spread of jaundice in Shimla.
Additional Chief secretary P C Dhiman today claimed that the there has been sharp fall in number of fresh Jaundices cases.

Only four new cases were reported in Shimla against 30 to 40 cases in the past while eight new patients of jaundice were admitted to hospitals at Solan, he said.
The number of jaundice cases has crossed the 1000 mark and the disease has spread from Shimla to Solan, prompting the government to take immediate effective steps to control the spread of the disease.

"We have directed the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) and Health departments and also the State Pollution Control Board to undertake daily sampling at Sewerage treatment plants and send the report to the government," he said.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Police has not been able to arrest the contractor so far.
More leads would be available after the arrest and interrogation of the contractor, said Shimla SP D W Negi.