Kalala village in Punjab in grip of 'hepatitis C'

BARNALA: Kalala, a nondescript village in Barnala district may have become famous overseas due to a wine brand being launched in its name in Canada's British Columbia (BC) province by one of its natives, but these days it is in the news for not so healthy reasons. The village has been hit by 'hepatitis C and diarrhoea', with more than 200 of its residents undergoing treatment for these diseases at various government and private hospitals.
Highly contaminated water and heaps of garbage near the water sources are cited to be possible reasons for the outbreak of these diseases. The newly-elected village sarpanch, Ranjit Singh Rana, said, "Despite bringing it to the notice of health authorities, nothing has been done to tackle the problem. Only a few out of 390 houses in the village may be left where no one has contracted hepatitis C."
Kalala is proud that one of its residents, Karnail Singh Sidhu, has established an organic vineyard in Okanagan Valley in BC and is producing wines under the brand name 'Kalala', which are growing popular in Canada and Europe. Some of Sidhu's brews have won many international prizes.
A villager, Tarsem Singh, said, "Diseases are spreading because of contaminated water. To stop these from spreading their tentacles, we want reverse osmosis (RO) system to be installed in our village." Harwinder Singh, who is afflicted with hepatitis C, said, "I lost my father due to this dreaded disease, and now I am also suffering from it."
Barnala civil surgeon Dr Renu said, "There are no definite cases of hepatitis, but some residents could be suffering from it." She said hepatitis is not caused by water but by using same needle for medical purposes. Dr Renu claimed that authorities had been directed to take samples from every household. "We have collected 41 samples so far," she informed.