A major tragedy occurred in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore due to leakage in the pipeline causing sewage (dirty water) to mix in, which was ignored despite prior complaints.
SNPNEWS.IN News (Gurmail Kamboj): The character city of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Indore, which has earned the honour of being the country’s cleanest city for the past 8 years, has been in the news for the last about 3 weeks in December due to supply of contaminated water and a terrible disease like diarrhoea.
In fact, after 15 December, people started complaining about strange smell, bitter taste and colour in the water supplied by Indore Municipal Corporation. The officials of the Water Supply Department did not feel the need to pay attention to this. As a result, reports of people falling ill in Bhagirathpura area started coming in on 27 December.
On 29 December, news emerged of the death of some individuals, including a 6-month-old child, due to diarrhoea. By 31 December, the death toll crossed 10 and information came in about more than 1000 people in the area falling ill. Many of them are reported to be admitted in ICU wards of hospitals.
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After laboratory tests, the presence of bacteria in the area’s water was confirmed. Following this, the Madhya Pradesh government ordered the immediate termination of services (dismissal) of Shubham Shrivastava (In-charge Sub-Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department), suspension of Shaligram Sitole (Zonal Officer, Indore Municipal Corporation), suspension of Yogesh Joshi (Assistant Engineer), suspension of Rohit Sisonia (Upper Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation), suspension of Sanjeev Shrivastava (In-charge Executive Engineer / Superintendent Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department), and removal (transfer/removal) of Dilip Kumar Yadav (Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation).
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav formed a committee to investigate the matter, announced compensation to the families of the deceased, and ordered the start of work to lay new pipes for water supply in the area afresh.
Rahul Gandhi has sharply targeted the BJP government. He said, “In Indore, not water but poison was distributed and the administration was sleeping like Kumbhakarna.” He called Madhya Pradesh the “epicentre of misgovernance” and tried to link this case with old incidents (like deaths due to poisonous cough syrup, negligence in hospitals). He also targeted Prime Minister Modi, saying he always remains silent on the deaths of the poor.
Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari levelled allegations against the government for hiding the death toll and negligence. He demanded criminal action against those responsible and higher compensation.
A controversy arose over a controversial statement by Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya (calling the media “ghante”), Congress targeted the “arrogant statements full of pride” of BJP leaders. After the controversy, Kailash Vijayvargiya publicly apologised.
BJP’s senior leader Uma Bharti also sharply commented on her own government – calling it a “stain on the government and the system” and describing the compensation as inadequate. She demanded strict punishment and a public apology.