Twenty-two deaths caused by contaminated water in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore last December resulted from a series of failures dating back over three decades, according to an investigation by a one-member judicial commission that has jolted the administration into action.
After the incident, the Madhya Pradesh government launched the Jal Suraksha Campaign in February this year. A 112-page report by Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta was submitted to the Madhya Pradesh High Court ‘s Indore bench on August 18, exposing the lapses.
Urban Development Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey said the tragedy forced a complete reset of water management measures in the city.
It held at least eight officers of the Indore Municipal Corporation responsible for ignoring complaints and for delays in the tender process. “Ignoring this warning is equivalent to a criminal act. The state government had suspended them in January.
The court, on January 27, appointed Justice Gupta as the one-member commission to probe complaints of water contamination in Indore’s Bhagirathpura and some other parts of the city. It noted that, prima facie, the case raised questions related to Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life. The report by Justice Gupta, a former high court judge, found three layers of lapses in the system from 1990 to 2026.
But officials ignored the warnings about supplying of contaminated water, according to activists. They need to be booked, as it was not a sudden outbreak or natural calamity,” said an activist the Malwa region.
The case is pending before the Indore bench of the high court, which will decide the action against eight officers held responsible by the probe commission.
