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MP govt admits to 15 fatalities in latest report on Indore deaths
Madhya Pradesh government admits 15 deaths from contaminated water in Bhagirathpura, as high court demands further reports and accountability.
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday admitted to 15 deaths in Bhagirathpura due to consumption of contaminated water even as the state submitted a fresh status report to the high court in the matter.
The government had earlier said that at least 10 people have died due to water contamination in the area. In the report, the state government admitted that the declaration provided by Epidemiological investigation report given by the probe committee, Epidemic started on December 24.
Earlier, the state government said that they had come to know about it December 29.
According to the high court’s directions, chief secretary Anurag Jain appeared before the court through video conferencing during the hearing on Thursday.
The court is hearing six public interest litigations (PILs) filed after the incident.
According to advocate Manish Yadav, counsel for one of the petitioners, the chief secretary and advocate general informed the court that while 15 deaths were attributed to contaminated water, the remaining eight fatalities were due to comorbidities.
CS Anurag Jain, submitted that the interim directions given in the order dated January 9 has been complied with and action taken in this regard have been mentioned in the report. Similarly, the status reports of the state government and IMC have been filed.”
The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court on January 6 ordered the state government to file a fresh status report on the death of at least 10 people due to contaminated water supply, calling the earlier report filed on January 2 “insensitive”.
According to the January 2 status report, state machinery took cognizance, and action, on reports of people falling ill due to contaminated water Bhagirathpura on December 29, by when a 70-year-old-woman had died.
Asserting that drinking water supply to the entire Indore city was unsafe, a division bench of justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi on January 6 issued summons to the state chief secretary over the deaths at the Bhagirathpura colony.
Jain further informed that the government had extended relief to all affected families, with compensation being provided to the next of kin of 21 deceased. He assured the court that actions had been taken in line with its directives.
Jain told the court that the chief minister recently launched the AMRUT scheme in Indore to ensure that sewerage and drinking water pipelines are not laid together, thereby preventing similar incidents in the future.
Petitioners’ advocates said that the detailed status report had not yet been shared with them. The high court directed the government to provide copies of the report to all petitioners and scheduled the next hearing for January 20. It also directed the chief secretary to attend the hearing as well.
