Dikhyaa Mohanty 
People of Angul district are having problems with the high concentration of fluoride in the drinking water and they have expressed their resentment over the closure of the national programme for prevention and control of fluorosis in the district.
According to the reports, the Angul district is drastically concerned by fluorosis. As many as seven blocks of the district are confronting fluoride threat out of which Angul block is highly endemic. Fluorosis, a public health problem is caused by excess intake of fluoride through drinking water, food products and industrial pollutants over a long period. It results in major health disorders like dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis and non-skeletal fluorosis.
The report further added that in a bid to prevent and control fluorosis and spread awareness in Angul, the district was included under the NPPCF scheme. Grant was provided under the scheme to set up a laboratory in the District Headquarters Hospital. A fluorosis consultant medical officer, laboratory technicians and three field investigators were also appointed in the laboratory.
However, after running for a few years, the laboratory functioning under the scheme has been shut down. The denizens of the district have expressed their resentments over the closure of the programme. They have demanded to start the programme again to solve the major health crisis related to fluorosis in the State.
