Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh blames urban planning for Indore water deaths

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Sunday condemned the deaths linked to contaminated drinking water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area as a “fatal outcome of the failure of urban planning,” demanding accountability and systemic reforms to prevent future tragedies. Singh said unless sewage and drinking water lines are fully separated and monitored , such outbreaks will recur.

The crisis began in late December 2025 , when residents in Bhagirathpura and surrounding localities such as Madina Nagar, Khajrana, and Barfani Dham started reporting foul‑smelling, discoloured tap water, followed by a surge of diarrhoea, vomiting, and dehydration. Health teams screened over 9,400 residents from 2,354 households and identified fresh cases even days after the first deaths were reported.

Laboratory tests by city medical college and state health authorities confirmed that bacterial contamination from sewage water , likely including E coli and other pathogens , entered the drinking system through a leakage in a main water pipeline, situated beneath an improperly built toilet structure a point where sewer and potable lines intersected without safety safeguards.

Government figures put the official death toll at about six to ten people , while local residents and some political leaders claimed higher figures, with up to 14-15 deaths , including that of a six‑month‑old baby, and hundreds falling ill. Hospital records show that nearly 400 people were hospitalized with symptoms ranging from acute diarrhoea to dehydration, with several in intensive care, and 20 new cases detected even after initial containment efforts.

Officials confirmed that cases were first reported around December 24 , but the contamination remained undetected for days, allowing the outbreak to spread rapidly before teams flushed the affected pipelines, halted supply, and deployed tanker water deliveries. A three‑member IAS‑led committee and police investigations have been ordered, with a local court directing police to submit a probe report by January 24.

In response, the Madhya Pradesh government removed the Indore Municipal Corporation commissioner , suspended senior civic officials including the additional commissioner and Public Health Engineering (PHE) superintendent engineer, and issued show‑cause notices to others. The chief minister said the state would pursue “strictest possible action” against those responsible and provide free treatment to all affected patients.

The crisis also sparked political backlash and public protests, with the Congress demanding a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge , resignations of civic leaders, compensation of ₹1 crore for victims’ families, and a comprehensive citywide water audit after reports that multiple other neighbourhoods face similar contamination risks.

Acknowledging the wider problem of water safety, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav launched the “Swachh Jal Abhiyan” campaign to conduct comprehensive water quality testing across urban and rural areas, deploy robotic and GIS technology for pipeline inspections , and strengthen contamination monitoring to prevent future incidents.

Experts and activists have emphasised that the tragedy reflects longstanding infrastructure neglect , ignored resident complaints about water quality going back months, and systemic lapses in civic responsiveness issues not limited to Bhagirathpura but echoing across other wards where pipelines run dangerously close to sewage lines.