Families mourn deaths linked to contaminated tap water in Indian city

Sunil Sahu bitterly regrets the day his five-month-old son was given cow’s milk diluted with tap water.

Avyan was breastfed, but his father says the family – who live in the city of Indore, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh – also gave him the diluted mixture.

In many Indian families, cow’s milk is considered too thick for infants and likely to disrupt their digestion, leading caregivers to dilute it.

Aware that tap water is not safe to drink, the family said they boiled the milk-water mixture and let it cool before feeding Avyan.

The infant began suffering from diarrhea on December 26. Despite being treated by a local doctor, the child died within three days. Mr Sahu claims tap water killed his son.

Avyan is among the many people suspected to have died after drinking contaminated water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area. Investigations are still ongoing, but officials say a pipeline leak caused sewage to mix with drinking water, causing a diarrhea outbreak in the area.

The exact death toll remains unclear. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said post-mortem reports have so far confirmed four deaths linked to contaminated drinking water.

But this number is likely to increase. While State Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya says he has heard of eight deaths so far, local journalists told BBC Hindi that the toll was close to 14.

More than 200 people have been admitted to city hospitals.

Over the past week, around 40,000 residents of Bhagirathpura – a neighborhood largely made up of poor and lower-middle-income families – were examined by health authorities and around 2,450 cases of vomiting and diarrhea were identified, the government said.

The deaths in Indore – often ranked India’s cleanest city – have sparked an outcry and put the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the defensive.

District magistrate Shivam Verma said the leak that caused the contamination had been repaired and authorities were looking for others. One municipal officer was dismissed and two suspended.

“This should not have happened in the first place. We have set up a committee to investigate the matter, and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that this does not happen again,” Chief Minister Yadav told the media.

The local municipal corporation currently supplies water to Bhagirathpura through tankers. Residents say they have been asked not to use tap water until further notice.

As government teams carry out inspections in Bhagirathpura, families are in mourning.

Sanjay Yadav, a tailor, said his 69-year-old mother started vomiting on the evening of December 26.

“We took her to the hospital, but she died within 24 hours,” said Mr. Yadav, whose 11-month-old son is also ill.

Nandalal Pal, the 76-year-old father of his neighbor Sudha Pal, also died due to severe diarrhea.

“The tap water in our house is always contaminated and it stinks,” she says.

“The water smelled bad, but we never thought it could kill someone,” said Arun Prajapat, who says his mother Seema died after drinking contaminated water.

According to media reports, residents of Bhagirathpura had been complaining about foul-smelling and contaminated water for over two months before the diarrhea outbreak.

Asked about this, local councilor Kamal Waghela of the BJP told news agency ANI on Thursday that Indore’s sewage and water pipelines needed a lot of repairs and work was progressing in most areas.

Jitu Patwari of the opposition Congress, however, accused the BJP government of poor governance and covering up the real death toll.

“Indore always gave votes to the BJP, but instead they gave poisoned water,” he told ANI.

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