Coastal villagers suffer from major diseases due to pollution

Ahmedabad, Mar 15 (UNI) People living on 1,600 km long Gujarat Coastline spread over 450 villages are prone to kidney stone, arthritis, stomach ache, respiratory and gynaecological diseases.

This was revealed in a study carried out by a group of NGOs, who undertook 'Dariya Kinara Samvad Yatra'', an exposure visit along the coast of Gujarat to understand the problems of people living on the coastline.

The study revealed that consumption of saline water for the major part the of year, air pollution due to mining and chemical industries and lack of vegetables in their daily food intake are the main reasons for their health related problems.

Gujarat, which is turned into a big chemicals and petrochemicals hub in the past three decades, has also added to the problems of coastline villagers.

The NGOs said though the Gujarat Government has declared Rs 11,000 crore development package for the welfare of people residing at coastline, the problems of 450 villages of coastal Gujarat remain unaddressed.

Mr Harinesh Pandya, coordinator of Janpath, an organisation founded for a mission to strengthen the local initiatives, found these health disorders among a large number of population living on the coastline from Kutch to Umargam in South Gujarat.

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