BHOPAL: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court into the contaminated water-triggered deaths of 18 residents of Indore’s Bhagirathpura area.
"Indore is the city of childhood, the most developed city in the state and the cleanest city in the country. In the same city, 18 people have died after drinking contaminated water. As the death count started rising, everyone began shoving the hat of responsibility onto someone else. I demand a judicial inquiry into the tragedy. Let there be a public hearing and let it be investigated by a sitting judge of the High Court," Singh posted on social media on Thursday.
He added, "Lives don’t return with death compensation, instead of covering up the mistakes, let’s fix accountability for those mistakes and punish the guilty.”
In a related development, the leader of opposition in the state, Umang Singhar, who had met with the bereaved families in Bhagirathpura locality on Tuesday, has written to the state’s Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, demanding a comprehensive water audit across Indore and provision of clean water in the areas which he personally inspected.
On Wednesday, Singhar had conducted a water audit in Madina Nagar, Khajrana, Bhuri Tekri, Krishna Bagh, Kanadia, and Barfani Dham localities of Indore.
“The findings of the water audit in the concerned areas (which houses Indore’s poor, labourers and working class) revealed that water was dirty, foul-smelling and abnormally coloured. The local residents conveyed that the water is causing vomiting, diarrhoea, and serious stomach problems. In some places, sewage contamination was clearly visible. The condition of the water was such that it was difficult to even go near it, let alone drink it. Mothers and sisters were seen weeping and expressing their suffering,” Singhar said.
According to local media reports, out of the 85 municipal wards of the country’s cleanest city Indore, complaints pertaining to contaminated water supply have been reported from 72 municipal wards in the recent past.