In Ballia issue of arsenic has many ramifications. Community as a whole has not been able to comprehend, response to this crisis owing to various factors. Lack of awareness is first among them. There has not been any concrete initiatives to take community in confidence. The other notable factors being absence of leadership, capacity building & sustained mobilization of affected people. Being a traditional society in fact, this has instead given rise to misconceptions like diseases spreading due to arsenic are, due to AIDS, etc.
In a unfortunate incident in keharpur, villagers even chased team of scientists.
This has also resulted in community being utterly out of sync with the water testing, sample collecting carried out by the authorities. So, initiatives by the authorities have not been so successful here.
Older persons, women and kids are most susceptible to arsenic related diseases. In some instances visitors are also found having developed visible sign of skin legions. No arrangements have been made at district HQ for Treatment of people suffering due to high intake of Arsenic. So they have to go to far off places for treatment. This is true for those who have little bit awareness. (Otherwise people do not suspect water).This has resulted in people selling their agricultural land, mortgaging and borrowing. It has been also found that some families have abandoned their houses and moved to safer places (migration). This has resulted in huge economic loss to community in Ballia
In this scenario for community there is compounded misbelieve.
The plethora of datas & theories add more to the confusion of community. Experiences from field give clear idea so as how the mitigation endeavors should go on. There is need to look beyond them and focus on the human side of the issue.
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