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by IANS |
Indore, Jan 8 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the deaths allegedly caused by contaminated drinking water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area.
He accused the government authorities and elected representatives of indulging in a blame game instead of fixing responsibility.
Expressing anguish over the incident, the Rajya Sabha MP said it was shocking that Indore -- known as the economic capital and one of the most developed cities of Madhya Pradesh -- had witnessed such a tragedy. People have died after consuming water.
Singh alleged that those responsible for the tragedy started passing the buck rather than owning accountability. “Instead of admitting mistakes and acting decisively, ministers shifted the blame to officers, officers blamed civic officials, and the mayor was dragged into the process. This pointless blame game only adds insult to injury,” he wrote on X.
Targeting the government, Singh said that a few transfers of officials and the announcement of compensation would not erase the “stain” left on the city.
He pointed out that the Chief Minister, who also holds charge of Indore and visits the city frequently, had remained silent beyond announcing ex gratia payments to the victims’ families.
“The government must stop covering up its failures. Lives do not return with compensation. Accountability must be fixed and the guilty must be punished,” Singh said, reiterating his demand for a judicial inquiry.
He called for a public hearing and an investigation by a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to probe the incident, which he said had exposed serious lapses in civic administration and water management in the state.
Meanwhile, health officials said the situation was gradually improving. According to Indore’s Chief Health and Medical Officer (CHMO) Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani, the number of patients admitted with diarrhoea symptoms declined to 56 by Wednesday night, compared to 99 on Tuesday. The number of critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) also fell to nine from 17 a day earlier.
The diarrhoea outbreak, triggered by contaminated drinking water supplied by the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), surfaced nearly three weeks ago in Bhagirathpura. Since then, a total of 437 people have been admitted to various hospitals across the city, of whom 381 had been discharged by Wednesday night, officials said.
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