Workshop on capacity building for arsenic mitigation programme by Baksa PHE  Dept in Goreswar

A CORRESPONDENT

GORESWAR: A day-long district-level workshop on capacity building for arsenic mitigation programme was organized by Baksa PHE Department at Barama community hall on Monday in Baksa district. The workshop was presided over by Maneswar Brahma, MLA of 62 no Barama LAC, and the objective of the workshop was explained by Nirmal Nath, assistant executive engineer of Mushalpur subdivision.

Billwa Mangal Roy, Executive Engineer of Baksa PHE Division, attended the workshop and urged the participants to fight against arsenic-contaminated water in the district. He termed arsenic as a silent killer as it affects the liver, kidney, lungs and skin. “It is a serious matter that hundreds of people are affected by arsenic in Baksa district and all should work hard to mitigate the problem,” he said.

Dr. Banasree Sarma, State consultant of water quality, WSSO, took part as resource person in the workshop and said that arsenic mitigation was a big challenge. “Awareness on arsenic is the only way to save our lives. Identified arsenic affected water source can only be used for washing. We must go for alternative safe water source for drinking purpose,” she said.

State-level PHED personnel Pranabjyoti Borah, M&E WSSO, also attended the workshop as resource person and spoke about safe drinking water. He said that safe drinking water should be clear, free from offensive taste or smell, not saline, free from germs and chemicals that might have adverse effect on health. He also explained how to collect water sample from water sources for water testing in laboratory.

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