Congress blames Indore party worker’s death on contaminated water crisis

Congress on Sunday claimed that a 75-year-old ward president of the party died due to a diarrhoea outbreak triggered by contaminated drinking water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area.

The deceased was identified by the Congress as Rajaram Borasi, a ward-level party office-bearer in Bhagirathpura. Jitu Patwari, president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, accused the state government of negligence and corruption in the supply of drinking water and linked Borasi’s death to the ongoing public health crisis.

“It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that my Congress colleague and the party’s ward president in Bhagirathpura, Rajaram Borasi, passed away due to contaminated drinking water in Indore,” Patwari said in a post on X. He further alleged that 28 people had died in the water-related health crisis in the city.

Health officials disputed the claim. Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani said medical records showed that Borasi suffered from chronic ailments, including heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.

“According to his angiography report from 2018–19, Borasi was a cardiac patient. He also had long-standing high blood pressure and diabetes,” Hasani said in a statement. He added that there was no medical evidence linking Borasi’s death to the diarrhoea outbreak.

“Available documents confirm that he had not complained of vomiting or diarrhoea in recent times,” the CMHO said, asserting that the death had no connection with contaminated water.

The outbreak of illnesses linked to contaminated drinking water in Bhagirathpura began in late December. Officials have said tests found contamination in 51 tube wells in the area, with the presence of E. coli bacteria detected in water samples. The contamination was attributed to a leakage in a municipal drinking water pipeline, which led to the mixing of sewage from a nearby toilet with the supply.

The Madhya Pradesh government, in a status report submitted to the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 15 January, acknowledged seven deaths linked to the outbreak, including that of a five-month-old infant.

Amid differing claims over the death toll, a ‘death audit’ conducted by a committee from the city’s Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College indicated that the deaths of 15 people in Bhagirathpura may be linked to the outbreak in some manner.

The district administration has announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of 21 persons who died during the period of the diarrhoea outbreak. Officials said that while some of the deceased may have succumbed to other illnesses or causes, financial assistance was being extended to their families on humanitarian grounds.