Indore, 2 Jan

A laboratory test has confirmed that the diarrhoea outbreak in Indore, which has claimed at least four lives and affected more than 1,400 people, was caused by contaminated drinking water, officials said.

The test findings have raised concerns over the safety of the city’s drinking water supply system in certain areas of Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital, which has been ranked India’s cleanest city for the past eight consecutive years.

Indore’s Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani told reporters that a laboratory report prepared by a city-based medical college established that drinking water contamination occurred due to a leakage in a supply pipeline in the Bhagirathpura area, from where the outbreak was reported. He, however, did not share the detailed findings of the report.

Officials said a leakage was detected in the main drinking water supply pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a location over which a toilet had been constructed. They claimed the leakage resulted in contamination of the water supplied to households in the locality.

Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Dubey told PTI, “We are closely examining the entire drinking water supply pipeline in Bhagirathpura to find out if there is any leakage elsewhere.”

He said that following an inspection, clean water was supplied through the pipeline to households in Bhagirathpura on Thursday. As a precautionary measure, residents were advised to use the water for drinking only after boiling it.

“We have also taken samples of this water and sent them for testing,” Dubey said.

Drawing lessons from the Bhagirathpura incident, the senior bureaucrat said a standard operating procedure (SOP) would be issued across the state to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. Dubey visited the affected area to review the situation on the instructions of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

A health department official said that during a survey of 1,714 households in Bhagirathpura on Thursday, 8,571 people were examined. Of these, 338 individuals showing mild symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea were provided primary treatment at their homes.

The official added that over the past eight days, 272 patients were admitted to hospitals, of whom 71 have been discharged so far. Currently, 201 patients remain hospitalised, including 32 receiving treatment in intensive care units.