Indore Court Reviews Water Contamination Matter, Issues Notices To Concerned Departments, Schedules Next Hearing Date

The Indore High Court recently heard three separate petitions regarding the tragic fatalities in Bhagirathpura caused by contaminated water consumption.

Hearing Outcomes and Schedule

A hearing regarding the case was held in court today.

The court has structured the follow-up hearings into two distinct sessions:

January 6th: Further proceedings for two of the filed petitions.

January 19th: The scheduled hearing for the third petition.

Key Developments

During the proceedings, the Municipal Corporation submitted formal records to the court confirming between seven and nine deaths linked to the incident.

Judicial Action

In response to one of the petitions, the court has officially issued notices to the relevant departments, demanding accountability and further information regarding the contamination.

Local Residents' Reaction to Water Contamination Issue

Local residents in Indore's Bhagirathpura area have raised serious concerns over sanitation issues, alleging overflowing sewage lines and mixing of it with drinking water.

A resident, Purnima Kaushal told ANI, "The drainage problem is so severe that if the sewer gets clogged, the entire area gets flooded with sewage. The whole gutter line behind the houses is overflowing. The smell is so bad that my children have fallen ill from vomiting. Sewage water is mixed with the drinking water. Just 10 days ago, the water was so bitter that it tasted like it had too much medicine in it."

"I fell ill following which, I went to my mother's house and returned yesterday. We are very upset over the drainage issue. The sewer line gets choked and the dirty water flows from my house. The Narmada water supply line is near an overflowing sewage line. We are drinking boiled water after getting it from another place and also buying water bottles," she added.

Meanwhile, another resident Rajiv Saroj said that the chamber of drains were not being cleaned and garbage piled up but no one arrived to clean it. Additionally, he alleged that despite complaints, their problem remained unaddressed.

"There are so many problems here; foul-smelling water is flowing in the lane behind our house. The chamber (of drain) is not being cleaned at all. There is a huge pile of garbage, and no one is coming to clean it. Children in every house are falling ill. These garbage are a source of illness here. Nobody came here from the administration to look after the issue in our lane. We have even filed a complaint, but no one has come to our lane yet. Both the sewer line and water supply line are built together and the situation here is very serious," Saroj told ANI.

Apart from this, residents are also still afraid of consuming even the tanker-supplied water following the contaminated drinking water incident that left several people ill and claimed lives.

Despite assurances from the municipal corporation and the deployment of water tankers, locals said that they didn't have trust in the water supply system.