The group poisoned the Baruwa River close to the source of the water supply project at 2 p.m. Thursday prompting project officials to immediately discontinue water supply to some 1,250 households in four wards of Triyuga Municipality.
Of the six who poisoned the river for fishing, Bimal Ghimire, 15, of Ward No. 1 and Sitaram Baral of Ward No. 15, have been arrested. Two of the others involved in poisoning the river have been identified as Raju Thapa and Ganga B K. Both of them are at large, the police said.
The project discontinued water supply to save lives, according to Shankar Basnet, chief of the project´s users´ committee. He added that the water reservoir of the project has been cleaned and it has been filled with fresh water. The water sample from the reservoir has been sent for safety test. Water supply in the municipality will resume after safety clearance.
The project supplies drinking water to households in Wards 1, 2, 3, and 17.
Sarala Koirala of Gaighat complained that consumers were facing difficulties due to lack of drinking water. Though consumers in Wards 2 and 3 have tube wells, those of Wards 1 and 17 do not. Earlier, contamination of the water source by an unknown group had caused a diarrhea outbreak in the district that affected some 250 people.
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