MP water contamination tragedy: Cong, BJP workers clash; 45 Oppn party members detained

Indore, Jan 3 (PTI) Around 45 Madhya Pradesh Congress functionaries were detained on Saturday as a "precautionary measure" after a clash with BJP workers when a fact-finding committee of the opposition party was at Indore's Bhagirathpura area, where water contamination has claimed six lives.

The Congress committee under former state minister Sajjan Singh Verma, which includes MLAs Mahesh Parmar and Pratap Grewal, was on its way to meet affected families when BJP workers gathered at the spot carrying black flags and shouted slogans, eyewitnesses said.

Congress workers too replied with slogans denouncing the ruling party, following which the two sides clashed, scuffled with each other and threw slippers, they added.

A police team that arrived at the spot escorted the Congress' fact-finding committee members and workers out of the area and took them to the central jail, they said.

"To maintain law and order in Bhagirathpura, 45 people, including 10 women, were detained as a precautionary measure. They were later released on bail," Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Vyas told PTI.

Congress leaders alleged the police acted at the behest of the ruling BJP and prevented the fact-finding committee from meeting the affected families.

This was, however, rejected by BJP leaders who said the Congress was indulging in "dirty politics" over the water contamination tragedy.

According to officials, six people have died and more than 200 were hospitalised in an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura, which has a large population from low and middle-income groups.

The death figures, however, vary, ranging from 10 to 16.

While Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava had said on Friday that he had information about 10 patient deaths linked to the outbreak, residents put the figure at 16, including that of a 6-month-old child. PTI HWP LAL BNM