New Delhi: Ten people are dead and over 2,000 have fallen ill after sewage-contaminated water flowed through drinking water taps in Bhagirathpura neighbourhood in Indore, which had been crowned India’s cleanest city for eight straight years.The death toll has climbed to 10 as of Wednesday (December 31), according to a senior officer in the district administration cited by The Hindu.Among the dead are a six-month-old infant who succumbed on Wednesday and six women, reports indicate. Over 100 residents from Bhagirathpura required hospital treatment in the past week after consuming water from the municipal supply.According to a statement from the office of the Chief Medical and Health Officer quoted by The Hindu, health officials surveyed 7,992 houses and examined approximately 39,854 people, identifying 2,456 suspected cases of vomiting and diarrhoea who received first aid on the spot. As of Wednesday evening, 212 patients had been admitted to hospitals, with 50 discharged after recovery, leaving 162 currently hospitalised including 26 in ICU.While authorities have been slow to release official figures, Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava confirmed a day earlier that seven deaths had occurred, noting discrepancies between the health department’s report of three deaths and his knowledge of four additional fatalities. Local residents claim the actual number may be even higher, The Telegraph reported.Investigations till now revealed a failure in civic infrastructure. Municipal commissioner Dileep Yadav said that sewage from a toilet built over the main water pipeline leaked into the drinking water supply. Authorities have since torn down the toilet and fixed several leaks discovered in the system.“A main leakage from a toilet drainage over the main supply line has been repaired and the toilet has been dismantled. Various other leakages were also found and repaired. We will test the water supply tomorrow and check for any leakages and water quality. The supply will be resumed once everything is fine,” Yadav said told The Hindu.According to the newspaper, documents show the municipal corporation issued a tender in August 2024 for a fresh supply line in the area, but the project remained stalled awaiting funds through the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) package. But, the tender sat unopened for months while residents continued consuming contaminated water.Chief Minister Mohan Yadav ordered the termination of in-charge sub-engineer Shubham Shrivastava of the Public Health Engineering Department, while zonal officer Shaligram Sitole and assistant engineer Yogesh Joshi received suspensions.A three-member probe panel led by IAS officer Navjeevan Panwar will investigate the disaster. The committee includes superintendent engineer Pradeep Nigam and MGM Medical College associate professor Shailesh Rai. Their remit extends to examining why the August tender for a replacement pipeline was not implemented for months.State urban developmentminister and Indore-1 MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya termed the incident “unfortunate” and acknowledged that officials had committed mistakes. However, he stressed that treatment should take priority over debate, saying “it is better if we first ensure that all patients recover and create a positive environment”.On the death toll, Vijayvargiya said, “I will not comment on this at present because some people have died natural deaths, while some fatalities have occurred in this incident as well. Therefore, after an inquiry by doctors and the administration, we will share the figures.”The minister also sparked controversy when he lost his composure during a Wednesday night interaction with reporters, PTI reported. When pressed about why patients hadn’t received refunds from private hospitals and why proper drinking water arrangements remained inadequate, Vijayvargiya snapped at journalists, telling them not to ask “free (unnecessary) questions” and using objectionable language on camera.After the video went viral on social media, Vijayvargiya issued a statement expressing regret. He said his team had been working continuously without sleep for two days, and added, “In this state of deep grief, my words came out wrong on a media question. I express my regret for this”.State Congress spokesperson Neelabh Shukla alleged that the actual death toll was being concealed to cover up “fatal negligence,” calling the official response “merely a cosmetic exercise”.MP Congress chief Jitendra Patwari launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP, noting that Indore had elected BJP candidates across all positions. In a series of posts on X, he stated, “Even after giving lakhs of votes, BJP wants to greet you by taking your life”.Patwari also shared the video of Vijayvargiya’s outburst, accusing BJP leaders of arrogance and demanding that Chief Minister Mohan Yadav seek the minister’s resignation on moral grounds.The state Congress has formed a five-member fact-finding committee consisting of former Ministers Sajjan Singh Verma and Jaivardhan Singh along with three MLAs, which will submit its report by Jan 5.The Madhya Pradesh high court issued notices to state authorities and sought a status report by January 2, while also directing free-of-cost treatment for patients after allegations that private hospitals were refusing care without payment. The court is considering a petition to form a probe committee headed by a retired High Court judge to prevent such incidents in the future.