Indore municipal commissioner transferred, 2 officials suspended

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav on Friday ordered the suspension of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC)'s additional commissioner and Public Health Engineering (PHE) department engineer and transferred the municipal commissioner hours after issuing show-cause notices to them, finally cracking down on errant senior officials who allegedly sat on complaints of contaminated water for atleast six months before a spate of deaths sparked national outrage.

- Shruti Tomar

The development came on a day the Madhya Pradesh high court took up the crisis even as the toll climbed to 10 amid mounting criticism of government inaction after complaints from residents of Bhagirathpura, a congested neighbourhood in Indore, in July of foul smell and sewage in their drinking water supply.

“The state government will not tolerate negligence in the incident caused by contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura, Indore. Strict action is being taken in this regard. Indore Municipal Corporation Additional Commissioner Rohit Sisonia and PHE (Public Health Engineering) In-charge Superintending Engineer Sanjeev Srivastava have been suspended. Instructions have also been given to remove Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dilip Kumar Yadav,” Yadav said on X.

The crisis became public on December 29, a day after a resident of Bhagirathpura died after complaining of vomiting and diarrhoea. Since then, officials have confirmed that sewage mixed with drinking water supply after a toilet was built with no safety checks.

Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said, “The pipeline was 30 year-old. The locals were complaining of problems in water supply and the tender was opened in July but no action was taken. No safety tank was constructed for the toilet.”