Indore water contamination: 142 patients in hospitals; 20 new diarrhoea cases found

Indore: As many as 142 persons are currently hospitalised, including 11 in ICUs, amid an outbreak of diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water in Indore, while 20 new patients were detected during screening of over 9,000 people in the Bhagirathpura area, the ground zero of infection.

Health teams examined 9,416 individuals from 2,354 households during an ongoing survey in Bhagirathpura, where six persons have lost their lives due to contaminated water, and identified 20 fresh cases, officials said on Sunday. According to officials, 398 patients had been admitted to hospitals so far following the outbreak.

Of them, 256 patients have been discharged after recovery. They stated that 142 patients are currently undergoing treatment in hospitals, including 11 admitted to ICUs. The outbreak is under control now, they added. 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 probe the health crisis.

He said experts from NIRBI are providing technical support to the health department to contain the outbreak. The administration has confirmed six deaths so far. Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava had put the death toll at 10, whereas locals claimed that 16 persons, including a six-month-old child, died due to the diarrhoea outbreak.

Amid the outrage over deaths, the Congress staged bell-ringing protests across Madhya Pradesh demanding the resignation of senior minister Kailash Vijayvargiya over the usage of the word "ghanta" while responding to reporters' questions about the developments in Indore.

Vijayvargiya sparked a row on the night of December 31 when he responded with the expression “ghanta” to a question by reporters on camera when asked about the water contamination crisis. The Congress demanded a judicial inquiry and sacking of Vijayvargiya, who holds the Urban Development and Housing portfolios, since Bhagirathpura is part of his Indore-1 assembly constituency.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari threatened to launch an agitation on January 11 if the party's demands for rectification measures were not met. He demanded registration of a culpable homicide case against Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava and civic officials concerned.

"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 were complaining for the past eight months that contaminated water was coming from municipal tap connections, but no action was taken.

"They are also saying water currently being supplied through municipal tankers in Bhagirathpura is also contaminated," Patwari alleged. Meanwhile, a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in neighbouring Dewas was suspended on Sunday for allegedly referring to a minister's (read Vijayvargiya) controversial remark and Congress's allegations in an official order amid the Indore water contamination 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.

The officials said the SDM had issued a government order on Saturday to deploy subordinate revenue officers to maintain law and order in view of a Congress protest held in Dewas. "The wording of a portion of the Congress memorandum was copied verbatim in the SDM’s order issued for official purposes. This amounts to serious negligence," an official told PTI. The Congress memorandum had targeted the BJP government and stated that Vijayvargiya’s use of the objectionable word reflected “inhumanity and authoritarianism.

The word "ghanta" has different shades of meaning, but in common parlance, its usage conveys nonsense. Renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh termed the deaths due to contaminated drinking water a "system-created disaster," alleging that deep-rooted corruption is to blame for the tragedy. The Magsaysay Award winner, popularly known as the "Waterman of India," expressed alarm that such a crisis could unfold in Indore, which has been consistently 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 the sewage overflow from the toilet spilled over into the water mains, causing the outbreak of severe episodes 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 claimed. He alleged "corruption” has ruined the entire system. The Indore tragedy is the direct result of this corrupt system, he added.

“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.