The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India have asked the health and family welfare department to provide data regarding water contamination diseases in urban local bodies (ULBs) in Odisha for a performance audit on the stormwater drainage and sewerage management system in municipal corporations.

From 2016–17 through 2021–22, the CAG has chosen to conduct the performance audit. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has also shown its concern regarding the increasing pollution in the rivers in Odisha which are getting contaminated due to wastewater, dumping into rivers from the towns, posing major health risks. Several ULBs have been discharging wastewater into the waterways in the area. Direct sewage discharge into rivers occurs at human settlements near river banks.

Further, the CAG used a proforma to request information. It has seven columns, including the name of the ULBs, the year, the name of the hospital, the number of patients admitted for treatment of diseases caused by water contamination, the names of the diseases, the number of patients who received relief after initial treatment, and the number of patients whose deaths were attributed to such diseases. 

In a letter to the director of public health, the health department requested to provide the necessary data for the proforma-based treatment of diseases caused by public water contamination in various government healthcare facilities from 2016–17 to 2021–22. (Times of India, Aug 29, 2022)