BHOPAL: The issue of the recent deaths in Bhagirathpura locality of Indore due to acute diarrhoeal outbreak triggered by contaminated water and the September-October 2025 deaths of kids due to cough syrup poisoning in Chhindwara district rocked the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.
Alleging that both the killer tragedies were caused due to systematic failure for which the blame couldn’t squarely be put on officials alone, the opposition Congress MLAs led by the leader of opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar trooped into the well of the House, demanding the resignation of two ministers – deputy CM-health minister Rajendra Shukla and urban development-housing-parliamentary affairs minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.
With the Congress MLAs protesting in the well of the House, demanding the resignation of the two ministers and a debate on the issue of the Indore deaths, the Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar had to adjourn the House four times between 11.52 am and 2.40 pm.
The opposition MLAs finally returned to their seats in the afternoon, only after the Speaker allowed the discussion on the Indore deaths through an adjournment motion on Friday.
The issue was raised in the Question Hour through a specific query on the water contamination deaths by Singhar.
In the written reply, the deputy CM-health minister Rajendra Shukla stated that 20 deaths had happened due to acute diarrhoeal disease (ADD) in Bhagirathpura (Indore) since December 21, 2025. In response to a supplementary query by the LoP, the minister added that at the time the question was asked by Singhar, the official death count stood at 20, but after that two more deaths happened for the same reason, taking the toll to 22 now.
“Investigation of water samples of the concerned locality and stool (fecal/poop) samples of affected patients at National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (NIRBI-Kolkata) MGM Medical College Indore and District Public Health Laboratory (DPHL-Indore) have confirmed E.coli infection and cholera outbreak,” Shukla told the House.
The minister further informed that Rs 44 lakh (Rs two lakh each) has so far been disbursed by the authorities to the 22 bereaved families in Indore.
Claiming that not just 22 but 35 deaths have so far happened due to the contaminated water epidemic in Bhagirathpura (Indore), the LoP questioned the low sum distributed as compensation to the 22 families. “Even when someone dies due to snake bite, the bereaved family is compensated with Rs 4 lakh. Then why just Rs 2 lakh to each family in case of deaths which happened due to total failure of the system and sheer negligence of authorities/government. Will the government render each of those families Rs 4 lakh compensation?”
Intervening on the issue, CM Dr Mohan Yadav said, “The government is dealing sensitively with the entire issue of deaths in Indore. An IAS officer has already been suspended. We are ready to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation.”
Responding to the CM, the LoP questioned, “How can just officials be held responsible for the deaths? Aren’t the ministers responsible for what happened? The CM himself is the minister in-charge of that district and then there is the city’s mayor also, aren’t they accountable for what happened there?”
“Accountability needs to be particularly fixed upon the urban development-parliamentary affairs minister Kailash Vijayvargiya for the deaths in Indore and upon deputy CM-health minister Rajendra Shukla for the deaths due to poisonous cough syrup in Chhindwara. Taking moral responsibility for deaths in Bhagirathpura (Indore) and cough syrup deaths in Chhindwara, both the ministers need to resign,” Singhar demanded.
Hitting back at the LoP’s demand for the resignation of the two ministers on moral grounds, BJP MLAs, including deputy CM-finance minister Jagdish Devda and senior MLA Rameshwar Sharma, questioned how many Congress ministers resigned in the past on moral grounds when the Union Carbide disaster happened in Bhopal and the anti-Sikh riots took place.
The Assembly Speaker reminded members that the matter is also before a Commission of Inquiry and the High Court's Indore Bench in a public interest litigation, urging restraint.
Senior cabinet minister Prahlad Patel and former Speaker and BJP veteran Sitasaran Sharma questioned the raising of the issue by the LoP when the same questions were in the terms of reference of the inquiry ordered into the issue by the MP High Court.
