Indore water contamination: 142 in hospitals, 11 in ICUs; 20 fresh cases detected

As many as 142 people are currently hospitalised, including 11 in intensive care units, following a diarrhoea outbreak linked to contaminated drinking water in Indore.

Health authorities detected 20 new cases during the screening of more than 9,000 residents in Bhagirathpura, the epicentre of the outbreak, officials said on Sunday.

Health teams examined 9,416 people from 2,354 households as part of an ongoing survey in Bhagirathpura, where six people have died due to contaminated water, officials said.

According to officials, 398 patients have been admitted to hospitals since the outbreak began. Of these, 256 patients have been discharged after recovery, while 142 continue to undergo treatment, including those in ICUs.

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Officials said the outbreak is now under control.

Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Madhav Prasad Haasani said a team from the Kolkata-based National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (NIRBI) has arrived in Indore to investigate the health crisis. He said NIRBI experts are providing technical support to the health department to help contain the outbreak.

The district administration has confirmed six deaths so far. However, Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava earlier put the death toll at 10, while local residents claimed that 16 people, including a six-month-old child, had died due to the outbreak.

Amid public outrage over the deaths, the Congress staged bell-ringing protests across Madhya Pradesh, demanding the resignation of senior minister Kailash Vijayvargiya over his use of the word “ghanta” while responding to reporters’ questions on the crisis.

Vijayvargiya triggered controversy on the night of December 31 when he used the expression “ghanta” on camera in response to a query about the water contamination.

The Congress demanded a judicial inquiry and sought the removal of Vijayvargiya, who holds the Urban Development and Housing portfolios, stating that Bhagirathpura falls under his Indore-1 assembly constituency.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari said the party would launch an agitation on January 11 if its demands were not met. He also demanded the registration of a culpable homicide case against Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava and concerned civic officials.

“Sixteen persons have died. These deaths are the murder of the mandate that people gave to the BJP in the previous elections. There must be a judicial probe into the deaths caused by contaminated drinking water, and those guilty should be given strict punishment,” Patwari told reporters.

He claimed residents of Bhagirathpura had been complaining for the past eight months about contaminated water flowing from municipal taps but alleged that no action was taken.

“They are also saying water currently being supplied through municipal tankers in Bhagirathpura is also contaminated,” Patwari said.

Meanwhile, a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in neighbouring Dewas was suspended on Sunday for allegedly referring to a minister’s controversial remark and Congress allegations in an official order linked to the Indore crisis, officials said.

Ujjain division revenue commissioner Ashish Singh suspended the SDM on charges of serious negligence, indifference and irregularities in the discharge of official duties.

Officials said the SDM had issued an order on Saturday deploying subordinate revenue officers to maintain law and order during a Congress protest in Dewas.

“The wording of a portion of the Congress memorandum was copied verbatim in the SDM’s official order. This amounts to serious negligence,” an official told PTI.

The Congress memorandum had targeted the BJP government, stating that Vijayvargiya’s use of the word reflected “inhumanity and authoritarianism”. The word “ghanta”, while having multiple meanings, is commonly used to convey nonsense.

Renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh described the deaths caused by contaminated water as a “system-created disaster”, alleging that corruption was responsible.

The Magsaysay Award winner, popularly known as the “Waterman of India”, said it was alarming that such a crisis had occurred in Indore, which has consistently been ranked as India’s cleanest city.

“If such a tragedy can occur in the country’s cleanest city, it shows how serious the condition of drinking water supply systems must be in other cities,” Singh told PTI.

Government officials admitted that sewage overflow from toilets spilled into water mains, triggering severe cases of vomiting and diarrhoea.

“Indore’s contaminated drinking water crisis is a system-created disaster. To save money, contractors lay drinking water pipelines in close proximity to drainage lines,” Singh said, alleging that corruption had damaged the entire system.

He also flagged declining groundwater levels in the city. “The year-on-year decline in groundwater levels in Indore is the most worrying. I visited Indore for the first time in 1992. Even then, I had asked how long the city would depend on water from the Narmada river?” Singh said.

(With inputs from agencies)