Contaminated water kills at least 10 people in ‘cleanest Indian city’

Over 200 people in hospitals following baterial contamination of drinking water

At least 10 people have died and hundreds were rushed to hospitals in India's "cleanest city" due to a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water.

Over 1,000 people reported symptoms of diarrhoea in the Bhagirathpura area of the central Indian city of Indore since late December after drinking contaminated water.

City mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava on Friday confirmed that at least 10 deaths have been reported due to a diarrhoea outbreak. However, locals claimed that the death toll was higher. There has been no official confirmation from the health department.

Lab reports prepared by a city-based medical college found that the water samples collected from the densely populated area, which is home to around 15,000 people, were contaminated due to a leak in a main water supply pipeline. A water test had confirmed the presence of bacteria in the pipeline.

“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,” Mr Bhargava told PTI news agency.

Officials said the leak was detected in the city’s main drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a site where a toilet has been built directly over the line. More than 1,400 people in Bhagirathpura have fallen ill with vomiting and diarrhoea over the past nine days, according to reports.

"I cannot say anything on the death toll but, yes over 200 people from the same locality are undergoing treatment at different hospitals of the city. The final report of the water sample collected from the affected area is awaited," Indore's chief medical officer, Madhav Prasad Hasani, told Reuters.

Shravan Verma, the district administrative officer, said authorities had deployed teams of doctors for door-to-door screening and were distributing chlorine tablets to help purify water.

"We have found one leakage point that could have contaminated the water and that point has been fixed," Mr Verma said, adding that officials had screened 8,571 people and identified 338 with mild symptoms.

A health department official said that by Thursday night, 272 patients had been admitted to hospitals in the area, with 71 since discharged. Of the 201 still hospitalised, 32 are being treated in intensive care units.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday ordered the municipal corporation to supply additional water tankers and urged authorities to “uphold the beauty of Indore”. Indore, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, has been named India's cleanest city and has topped the national cleanliness rankings for the past eight years.

“This is big news. If people are dying because of the water, then this is wrong… Keep upholding the beauty of Indore,” Justice Dwarkadhish Bansal said.

He added: “I want you to send additional water tankers and send photographs to the lawyer… We should send the tankers within 10 minutes."

Indore has been recognised by the federal government as the “cleanest city in the country” for eight years straight, based on surveys as part of a public cleanliness initiative.