The Hindu : Front Page : 125 workers fall ill in factory after drinking ‘contaminated water’

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Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008
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125 workers fall ill in factory after drinking ‘contaminated water’

Staff Reporter

Water is potable, insists management; patients kept under supervision

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

A factory worker in a Bangalore hospital after she fell sick on Monday.

BANGALORE: At least 125 workers of a garment factory fell ill on Monday after they drank “contaminated water” provided at their workplace, Embee Apparels, at Madanayakanahalli off Tumkur Road.

They were admitted to the Employee State Insurance (ESI) Hospital in Rajajinagar. No one is reported to be in critical condition.

“All of them were brought in around 1.30 p.m., moderately dehydrated. They were vomiting and complained of pain in their abdomen. We have put them on fluids and are providing antibiotics,” said the hospital’s Deputy Medical Superintendent, R.P. Malagi. They will be kept under supervision for the next 12 hours.

Bed scarcity

Dr. Malagi said as no more beds were available at the hospital, patients from the factory — who kept coming right through the day — were being directed to the Indiranagar ESI Hospital. The number is bound to rise to more than 200 as more cases are being reported.

When The Hindu visited the Rajajinagar hospital, all the beds were occupied. Bhagya G., a tailor, was lying in the corner of the female ward at the Rajajinagar hospital all by herself.

Her parents were yet to arrive at the hospital and she was hoping that her mother had been informed about the incident.

“I could not breathe. I was so tired I found it difficult to even stand. My head was spinning and I have no idea who brought me to the hospital. Only after they gave me glucose did I realise what was happening,” she managed to say.

Three women helped Vasantha Kumari, another tailor, to lie back on the bed after she got up to answer the nurse’s questions. Her lips were dry and she looked exhausted.

“The water had tasted bad for the past three days. My friends and I informed our supervisor but he did not take it seriously. Today, my stomach started to hurt badly and I was also suffering from diarrhoea. I thought it was just me and that I probably had food poisoning. Just as I was leaving the office, I saw many people vomiting and complaining of stomach ache.”

They collapse

K.C. Manjula, who was with Ms. Vasantha, said: “We saw many people from all the four floors of the factory collapse to the ground due to tiredness, and start vomiting. That is when the management brought all of us in factory buses to the hospital.”

The factory management insisted that the water was potable and came from the factory borewell.

When pointed out that the patients said that the water came from a tanker, Lalitha K., senior human relations manager at the factory, said: “No, they are not properly informed: it is from the borewell. But we still do not know what the cause for the illness is; the doctors will have to tell us that.”

K.R. Jayaram, Vice-President of the Garment and Textile Workers’ Union, said that the management of the factory, the Labour Department and international apparel brands that sublet work to Embee, should jointly take responsibility for the situation.

“The Labour Department has failed to monitor and ensure that factory owners provide basic facilities such as safe drinking water,” he alleged.

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