Mhow tehsil administration and public health engineering (PHE) officials are on their toes after more than five dozen men, women and children in Mangliya village of the tehsil were reported to have fluorosis. Mangliya is situated about 24 km from tehsil headquarters.

The matter surfaced on Monday when a twelve-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease. As soon as the information reached Mhow SDM K V S Chowdhry, he ordered Mhow PHE office to carry out water sampling in the village. A team of officials under PHE SDO A K Pathak reached the village on Monday afternoon and collected water samples from twelve hand pumps of the village.

Showing his daughter Lakshmi’s deformed legs, Totaram said she is in that state for the last many years. Now her teeth too have started getting deformed. He said his family members and he felt that Lakshmi is a victim of some evil sprit. He came to know about the disease only after officials collected water from the hand pump near his home and told him about the disease. He said he had taken her to many babas for treatment but of no use.

Ramji Lal, another village resident, said he has three children — Kamlesh, Lal Singh and Shantilal — all below 15 and having same problems.

Mhow block medical officer Dr R S Tomar, when contacted, said the water samples taken by PHE officials have been sent to laboratory in Indore and no comment could be made now. He confirmed that such symptoms have been found in more than 60 people.

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