MP govt sets up panel to probe Indore water contamination

The Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday constituted a state-level committee to investigate the Indore water contamination incident and submit its findings and recommendations, an official said.

The committee, led by the Additional Chief Secretary of the General Administration Department, Sanjay Kumar Shukla, will examine the actual causes and key facts of the water contamination in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area and analyse administrative, technical, and management deficiencies.

It will determine accountability of the officers/employees responsible for the incident, make necessary recommendations to prevent such recurrence in the future, and include other matters deemed necessary or incidental to the matter under investigation, the official said.

The committee will obtain necessary records, reports, and information from the departments concerned and, if necessary, conduct on-site inspections.

It will submit the investigation report to the state government within one month, the official said.

Besides Shukla, the other members of the committee include Principal Secretary, Public Health Engineering, P Narhari, and Commissioner, Directorate of Urban Administration and Development, Sanket Bhodave.

Indore Divisional Commissioner Sudam Khade has been designated as member-secretary, the official said.

The state government, in its status report before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, has pegged the water contamination tragedy death toll at seven, including a five-month-old infant.

However, an audit report prepared by a committee of the government-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College indicated that the deaths of 15 persons in Bhagirathpura could be linked to the outbreak in some manner.

Residents of Bhagirathpura claimed that 24 persons have died so far of a vomiting and diarrhoea outbreak in the locality last month.

The administration has paid compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of 21 persons who died after the outbreak.

Officials have claimed that while some deaths had occurred due to other illnesses and causes, authorities provided financial assistance to all bereaved families on humanitarian grounds.