Tagged for its cleanliness, a case of water contamination has come to light in Indore. Authorities have suspended an officer and two others from service after 10 people died due to contraction of water contract in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. On Wednesday, the officials confirmed that 2000 people have fallen Ill after drinking contaminated water supplied by the municipal corporation.
The deceased include six women and a six-month-old child. Reports confirm that after drinking water from the contaminated Municipality pipeline, over 100 people have been admitted to the hospital from Indore’s Bhagirthpura. The official death toll is yet to be released, but senior officials confirmed that the toll has crossed 10.
The state government, on instructions of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, has terminated sub-engineer Shubham Srivastava of the Public Health Engineering Department of the Municipal Corporation, who was in charge. Zonal officer Shaligram Sitole and Yogesh Joshi, the Assistant Engineer, have also been terminated.
The government has also constituted a three-member committee to investigate the matter, headed by IAS officer Navjeevan Panwar. The committee also consists of the Superintendent engineer, Pradeep Nigam, and Shailesh Rai, the Associate Professor at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College.
A senior official confirmed that the committee will also investigate the delays in the completion of a tender for laying down a new pipeline, issued as early as August 2025. Kailash Vijayvargiya, the cabinet minister who is MLA from Indore, has said that the incident was unfortunate and the number of patients is increasing. The Chief Minister of the state has visited the people admitted to the hospitals.
As per the IMC Commissioner Dileep Yadav, the three officers suspended were responsible for the delivery of clean water in the area but failed to recognise the leakage in time, leading to the health tragedy unfolding in the city.
He also confirmed that the number of tankers sent for the people was 100. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has also asked for a detailed report on the matter before 2nd January.
