Indore is the largest metropolis of Madhya Pradesh. It has a population of about 35 lakhs.
Editorial: The Indore incident – the benchmark for clean cities is flawed: The incident of 14 deaths and nearly 200 people being hospitalized due to a contaminated water supply in Indore, the financial capital of Madhya Pradesh, is a living example of neglect of public welfare. Although the state government and the district administration have confirmed 10 deaths, the residents of the area claim that the government officials are hiding the matter of the death of four members of the same family four days ago. The residents also claim that apart from the nearly 200 people admitted to the hospitals, the number of other sick people is around a thousand. All the deaths were due to a dysentery-like disease that spread due to the mixing of feces and urine in the main water supply line of the Bhagirathpura locality.
Health officials say that the bacteria that thrive in human waste were found in the water supplied to the houses. This bacteria is the cause of dysentery (diarrhea). The Mayor of Indore has admitted that a public toilet in Bhagirathpura, a lower-middle-class area, is built on the main water supply pipeline. Due to the broken water supply pipeline, the sewage from the toilet kept mixing with its water. This made the water contaminated and dirty.
Immediate action was taken as soon as the matter came to his attention. On the other hand, the local residents have been alleging that the water contamination was detected seven days ago. Complaints in this regard were also registered with the Public Health Department and Municipal Corporation officials five days ago. But these complaints were ignored. This indifference ended when patients suffering from dysentery started arriving at hospitals in droves. After that, efforts were made to cover up the situation, but by then it had deteriorated to such an extent that all efforts to hide it proved unsuccessful.
Indore is the largest metropolis of Madhya Pradesh. It has a population of about 35 lakhs. Politically, it is considered a stronghold of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It has been achieving the status of the cleanest city in the country for eight consecutive years. Indore is visibly clean, but what kind of pollution is hidden under the cloak of this cleanliness can be guessed from the current dysentery incident. Drinking water to the entire metropolis is supplied through a pipeline from the Narmada River. The distance between Narmada and Indore city is 150 km.
Where the pipeline starts, the river is extremely dirty because the ashes of the dead of half of Madhya Pradesh are carried there. Water is filtered from the filtration plant established on the banks of the Narmada and is added to the water supply pipeline. Even after filtration, this water is not drinkable. That is why it is re-treated in Indore. Even after all these processes, RO systems are resorted to in homes to make it drinkable. During this whole process, if the water gets contaminated due to dirt getting mixed in the supply line itself, then the common people have to bear the brunt of it. Such small incidents have happened before. Due to not learning lessons from them, a big incident has now happened.
The Madhya Pradesh government has formed a three-member committee under the leadership of senior IAS officer Navjeevan Panwar to investigate the Indore dysentery incident. This committee has been asked to complete the investigation within three months, identify the culprits, and suggest measures to improve the water supply system. This is a step like “shaking the dirt off the ‘gonglu’”. Indore is the stronghold of the BJP’s Bahubali Kailash Vijayvargiya. He has put the entire blame for the dysentery incident on the municipal and water health officials.
On the contrary, people say that they were also informed about the Bhagirathpura situation from the very beginning. They also did not show any activity. This entire phenomenon is a sign of the absence of accountability and responsibility. However, what has happened has not only blown away Indore's claims of cleanliness, but has also shown the Modi government at the center the mirror of reality. It is regrettable that this reality came to light through the sacrifice of 14 innocent lives.
