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New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh entered the New Year with a horrendous expose highlighting systemic failure combined with prolonged neglect of a critical civic issue. Indore, long celebrated for its cleanliness drive, is now under intense scrutiny. Bhagirathpura witnessed a severe diarrhoea outbreak in December, which initially appeared to be an unfortunate tragedy but has since emerged as a consequence of official apathy. The water contamination was caused by sewage mixing with drinking water due to a pipeline leakage.
A recent report has revealed a far more troubling narrative that remained concealed for years. Documents, timelines, and audit warnings indicate that the crisis had been brewing for a long time.
Investigations have traced the contamination to a breach in a main drinking water line near a public toilet close to the Bhagirathpura police outpost—an area where the proximity of sewage makes even minor pipeline damage a high-risk event. While the state government has acknowledged the contamination and claimed it is taking appropriate action, residents continue to question why meaningful intervention came only after deaths were reported, despite what they describe as repeated complaints over an extended period.
According to NDTV, municipal records point to prolonged administrative delays. A Rs 2.4-crore tender to replace pipelines in the area was first flagged in July 2022, approved by the Mayor-in-Council in November 2022, and cleared through key signatures only in February 2023. A second pipeline-related file prepared in November 2024 also failed to translate into action. Although a fresh tender was issued in August 2025, it was not opened until December 30—after fatalities were reported—when approvals were hurriedly granted and work began the very next day.
This pattern mirrors long-standing systemic flaws flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The CAG found that the Indore Municipal Corporation supplied borewell water without quality testing; joint tests showed all 20 samples exceeded BIS norms, with faecal coliform detected in some. The audit also noted Rs 470 crore in outstanding water charges, no water audit, and the absence of a comprehensive monitoring system—conditions that allow leaks, contamination, and accountability gaps to persist.
Bhagirathpura is not an anomaly. It is the moment an ignored system is being forced to answer. The CAG report may be old, but its warnings map directly onto today’s tragedy—where institutional failure did not just malfunction, it proved fatal.
