Indore water contamination: Cong seeks Rs 1 crore compensation for each family that lost kin

Indore, Feb 3 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday demanded Rs 1 crore compensation and a government job for the kin of those who died after drinking contaminated water here, while claiming that the incident was a result of "system collapse" and "corruption beyond imagination".

The main opposition party warned that it would enforce a citywide bandh if the demands were not met within eight days.

Several Congress workers staged a sit-in at the Rajwada area, the city's central square, to protest the contaminated water issue. Families of those who died after drinking contaminated water also joined the protest.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari claimed that 32 deaths have been reported so far in the Bhagirathpura area due to contaminated water and said, "These deaths are not accidental but a result of systemic collapse and corruption beyond imagination." Launching a sharp attack on the state government, he said, "Cries are echoing in 32 households due to contaminated drinking water. But for the ruling BJP, people's lives are cheap, and the families of the deceased have been given compensation of only Rs 2 lakh each." Patwari demanded that the families of the deceased be given Rs 1 crore each as compensation and a job in the municipal corporation. He said if the demands were not accepted within eight days, his party would enforce a citywide shutdown.

Bhagirathpura, which has been in the headlines over the drinking water tragedy, falls under 'Indore-1', the assembly constituency of state Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Targeting Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, the state Congress chief said the "failure to seek Vijayvargiya's resignation despite 32 deaths showed that Yadav had been reduced to a chief minister only in name".

Officials said vomiting and diarrhoea due to contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura had begun in late December.

In its 'death audit' report submitted to the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on January 27, the state government had indicated that the deaths of 16 people in Bhagirathpura could be linked to the outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water.

The court has ordered a judicial probe into the contaminated drinking water case and constituted a one-member commission headed by former high court judge Justice Sushil Kumar Gupta for the purpose. PTI HWP LAL AMJ NSD NSD