Ten people have died, says Indore’s mayor. Residents of the Bhagirathpura neighbourhood put the number at 14, an infant among them, and the health department has not confirmed that higher count.
Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava spoke to the Press Trust of India on Friday. “According to health department data, four people have died due to the diarrhoea outbreak in Bhagirathpura. However, I have received information about 10 deaths due to this outbreak,” he said. Preliminary test reports on water samples from the area had raised the possibility of cholera. Asked about that, the mayor said only the health department could answer.
A leak under a toilet
Officials traced the contamination to a leak in the main drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura. A toilet had been built directly over that stretch of pipe, and the leak, they said, fouled the supply. Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani said on Thursday that laboratory reports from a city medical college confirmed the water was contaminated. He did not release the detailed findings, and administrative officials have also avoided giving clear information about them.
More than 1,400 people in the locality have suffered vomiting and diarrhoea over nine days. As of Thursday night, a health department official said, 272 patients had been admitted to hospitals in the area and 71 of them discharged. Of the 201 still in hospital, 32 are in intensive care.
Indore was named India’s cleanest city for the eighth year in a row in 2025, according to NDTV.
Political fallout
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used the deaths to go after the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. “Not water, but poison was distributed in Indore, and the administration remained in deep slumber,” he wrote in a Hindi post on X. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is silent whenever poor people die, and listed other episodes he blamed on the state, including deaths linked to cough syrup and rats attacking children in government hospitals.
Gandhi also asked why residents’ repeated complaints about dirty, foul-smelling water had gone unheard. “How did sewage get mixed with the drinking water? Why wasn’t the supply stopped in time? When will action be taken against the responsible officers and leaders?” he said. “Clean water isn’t a favour, it’s a right to life.”
A separate row broke out on Thursday after Kailash Vijayvargiya, a senior cabinet minister in Madhya Pradesh, used the word “ghanta”, loosely translated as nonsense, on camera when a TV journalist asked him about the contamination.
Sources
- At Least 10 Die In Central India After Consuming Contaminated Water – Indore Mayor
- Indore water contamination: Locals allege 14 deaths, Mayor says 10
