India has just overtaken Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy. While this is a matter of pride for Indians, we cannot help but hang our heads in shame at the recent tragedy in Bhagirathpura, Indore, where contaminated water led to multiple deaths and widespread illness. Shockingly, it was faecal waste from a police toilet that seeped into a drinking water pipe. This happened in Indore, said to be the cleanest and best-managed city in India, consistently topping national rankings for its comprehensive waste management, including door-to-door collection, strict segregation and recycling, powered by citizen participation and innovative tech like bio-CNG plants. Yet, beneath the sparkling clean surface lay a tragedy that was waiting to happen.
An indicator of economic prosperity is the well-being of the poorer sections of the people. Health, education, infrastructure, clean air and clean water all fall under basic needs, and various institutions should be busy working around the clock to improve lives. On most of these counts, however, India appears to be falling short, with the latest being the tragedy unfolding in Indore.
The Bhagirathpura episode is not an aberration. It is a symptom of a deeper governance failure. What occurred in Indore mirrors incidents across the political and geographical map. In Gujarat’s Mahisagar district, a recent jaundice outbreak was linked to contamination of borewell and municipal sources. In Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu, residents were hospitalised after consuming polluted supply water. And, who can forget the devastation of the 2014 hepatitis outbreak in Sambhalpur, Odisha? After what happened in Indore, it can be said that unsafe drinking water is not a localised lapse, but a recurring national emergency.
Over the decades, we have learnt to live with environmental crises. These days, air pollution is tracked through the Air Quality Index, but we have to live with it, as neither the Central nor the state governments have the will and wherewithal to deal with it. Heatwaves and floods dominate daily public discourse, but there is no attempt at getting to the bottom of the problem. And now, with drinking water turning deadly, perhaps this issue will also be written off as a localised problem.
The Modi government takes pride in launching the Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission, but it is a shame that, despite the projected progress under these two programmes, water woes continue. The claim is partly spurious. For instance, while the National Family Health Survey data (if such data can be trusted) show that, despite a rural-urban divide, 96 per cent of the households now use an improved source of water supply, the Jal Jeevan Mission’s own assessment shows that 37 per cent of the drinking water in rural Madhya Pradesh is not potable.
In the case of urban settlements, a municipal supply is always considered to be a safe and ‘improved source’, but with checks and balances not in place, there can be no guarantees. The authorities at Indore would have spotted the contamination and let people know of the dangers if such checks were in place.
There needs to be better enforcement of water guidelines and other environmental laws at all levels. The government should draw lessons from the dereliction of duty rampant in Madhya Pradesh in fixing the problem of drinking water. As early as 2004, the Madhya Pradesh government had taken a $200 million (R906.4 crore at the time) loan from the Asian Development Bank to overhaul water supply and improve quality in four major cities – Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior. The promise was universal access to safe and clean drinking water.
And, 15 years later, in 2019, the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) exposed how that promise had failed. The CAG report flagged that contaminated and polluted water was being supplied in both Indore and Bhopal, that infrastructure was inadequate, leakages were rampant, monitoring was weak, and corruption had hollowed out the system. Corrective measures were recommended, but little changed.
With a population that is close to 1.47 billion and a demographic dividend that is now attracting FDI from ageing countries like Japan, India’s water-borne disease burden is sadly high. All states should immediately check water supply sources for chemical and sewage contaminants. Old infrastructure, including pipes, must be repaired or replaced. There should be strict enforcement of policy and monitoring of practice along with awareness campaigns. Indore and many more cities in India have to clean up their act or risk more deaths. Giving access to water is meaningless unless the quality of the supply is assured.