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Indore municipal commissioner transferred, 2 officials suspended after 10 deaths
The authorities cracked down on senior officials who allegedly sat on complaints of contaminated water for six months before the deaths sparked national outrage
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav on Friday ordered the suspension of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC)’s additional commissioner and Public Health Engineering (PHE) department engineer and transferred the municipal commissioner hours after issuing show-cause notices to them, finally cracking down on errant senior officials who allegedly sat on complaints of contaminated water for at least six months before a spate of deaths sparked national outrage.
The development came on a day the Madhya Pradesh high court took up the crisis, even as the toll climbed to 10 amid mounting criticism of government inaction after complaints from residents of Bhagirathpura, a congested neighbourhood in Indore, in July of foul smell and sewage in their drinking water supply.
“The state government will not tolerate negligence in the incident caused by contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura, Indore. Strict action is being taken in this regard. Indore Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner Rohit Sisonia and PHE (Public Health Engineering) In-charge Superintending Engineer Sanjeev Srivastava have been suspended. Instructions have also been given to remove Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dilip Kumar Yadav,” Yadav said on X.
The crisis became public on December 29, a day after aresident of Bhagirathpura died after complaining of vomiting and diarrhoea. Since then, officials have confirmed that sewage mixed with drinking water supply after a toilet was built with no safety checks.
Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said, “The pipeline was 30 years old. The locals were complaining of problems in water supply and the tender was opened in July but no action was taken. No safety tank was constructed for the toilet.”
But residents allege that alarms were raised since July, and a complaint was filed on the mayor’s portal.
A local shopkeeper Prakash Kumar said, “Foul smell in water was a common problem. In July, the mayor had come to our area and assured of laying new pipeline. But the quality of water deteriorated in December. However, no action was taken till December 29.”
Raju Dhruvkar, a resident of Bhagirathpura, who lost his wife, Geeta, on Thursday, said, “We were receiving contaminated water for a long time but on December 23, the quality of water deteriorated. My wife fell ill immediately after consuming it. She was vomiting continuously. We admitted her to the hospital on December 24. She was on ventilator since Wednesday and died on Thursday. We want registration of an FIR against the officer concerned.”
Officials also continued to present contradictory information on the number of deaths. Mayor Bhargava said 10 people had died due to contaminated water but the Indore district collector Shivam Verma said there were five deaths and the state government’s report to the high court confirmed only four deaths.
Bhargava said, “Ten people died while undergoing treatment for diarrhoea at different hospitals. The administration is claiming only those deaths which are confirmed by health department on the basis of post-mortem report.”
The high court instructed the government to ensure that Indore gets “clean” drinking water while reviewing the 39-page status report, submitted by the state government, which also said 201 people from Bhagirathpura were still admitted in hospital.
According to the report, the government came to know about water contamination on December 29, a day after a 60-year-old woman died. The report, however, mentioned that about 300 patients were reported ill from December 25 to 27 but no cases were reported on December 28 (Sunday) as Mukhyamantri Sanjeevani Clinic and Primary health centre were closed.
The report also said that after the outbreak of diarrhoea, a survey of 48,112 people was done between December 29 and January 1. It was found that 2,714 people were found with mild symptoms whereas 294 were admitted in hospitals. Of them, 32 were in the ICU.
“This is big news. If people are dying because of contaminated water, then something is wrong. Keep upholding the beauty of Indore. Indore is such a respected city, and the country says good things about the city,” said a division bench of justices Dwarkadish Bansal and Rajendra Kumar Vani.
The court asked the state government to ensure clean water regularly and provide the best treatment to the affected persons. Petitioner and advocate Ritesh Inani, however, said that status was submitted in haste and was not complete. “There is no mention of the cause of death and water contamination,” he said. The court will hear the case again on January 6.
Yadav’s action came on a report by additional chief secretary (urban administration) Sanjay Dubey, who said that despite floating tenders for laying new pipelines for drinking water in July this year, the process was not completed by the municipal officers, according to a senior officer.
The CM also emphasised that corrective measures were being taken for other parts of the state. “In connection with the tragic incident caused by the contaminated drinking water in Indore and after taking strict action against the responsible officials, we are now taking corrective measures for other parts of the state as well,” Yadav said.
“In this regard, a virtual meeting has been convened this evening with the mayors, chairpersons and commissioners of all 16 municipal corporations, along with district collectors, officials from the health department, urban development department, public health engineering department and other concerned officers,” he added.
The Opposition hit out at the government. “In Indore, instead of water, poison was distributed, and the administration remained in a deep slumber. There is mourning in every home, the poor are helpless. Those whose homes are filled with grief needed solace; the government offered arrogance instead,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X.
BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said, “Politics should not be done on the matter. It happened due to negligence of PHE field officials. Serious action is being taken.”
