Modi govt could give neither clean water, nor clean air, making public suffer: Kharge

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission but was silent on deaths caused by contaminated water in Indore.

He alleged that the Modi government and the BJP failed to provide either clean water or clean air to the country. " Narendra Modi ji, who never gets tired of trumpeting the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, is maintaining his usual silence on the deaths caused by drinking contaminated water in Indore.

"This is the same Indore city that has clinched the 'Cleanest City' title for the eighth consecutive time in the central government's Swachh Sarvekshan survey. It's a shameful state of affairs that, due to the BJP's incompetence, people here are desperate for clean water," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

For 11 years, he said, the country was fed nothing but long speeches, lies and deceit, empty promises, and boasts about the "double-engine" government.

"When ministers are questioned, they resort to abuses and intimidation. Drunk on the arrogance of power, they turn the tables on the journalists.

"The entire machinery swings into action to cover up the misgovernance of BJP governments," he said.

Kharge said that all the government's schemes were mired in corruption and foul play, and said that 10 per cent of the Jal Jeevan Mission fund was allocated for purifying contaminated water.

"The Modi government and the BJP have failed to provide either clean water or clean air to the country. The common people are the ones suffering," the Congress chief said.

At least 10 people died of a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of Indore.

On Thursday, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Madhav Prasad Hasani said laboratory reports from a city medical college confirmed contamination of the drinking water supply to the locality due to a leakage in a pipeline.

The CMHO did not share the detailed findings of the report.

Officials said a leakage was found in the main drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a spot over which a toilet has been constructed.

More than 1,400 people have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea in Bhagirathpura over the past nine days. PTI SKC VN VN