₹4,000 crore spent, yet no clean water: JSAI survey exposes Madhya Pradesh’s urban crisis

By A Representative

A recent citizen survey conducted by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan India (JSAI) has exposed a critical public health crisis in Madhya Pradesh’s major urban centers, revealing that a staggering 89% of Indore’s population lacks access to 24x7 water supply. The report, released in the wake of the devastating contamination tragedy in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area, paints a grim picture of urban infrastructure where residents in both Indore and Bhopal are forced to consume water they do not trust.

As of January 16, 2026, the ongoing crisis in Bhagirathpura has claimed 24 lives and left over 400 people ill, highlighting a systemic failure in providing safe drinking water—a service the state and local bodies are constitutionally obligated to ensure.

Compiled by activists Amulya Nidhi, Rehmat Mansury, and Sudha Tiwari, the survey involved over 200 residents across 13 zones of the Indore Municipal Corporation and dozens of participants in Bhopal. The findings indicate that 60% of respondents in Indore express significant doubts regarding the safety of their drinking water, while nearly 40% admitted to suffering from waterborne diseases such as typhoid, jaundice, and chronic diarrhea. The situation in the state capital, Bhopal, was found to be equally precarious, with almost all surveyed residents reporting similar concerns about supply consistency and quality.

Is the water you receive is drinkable?

The report raises sharp questions regarding the massive financial investments made over the last two decades. Despite a ₹1,365 crore loan from the Asian Development Bank in 2004 specifically aimed at 24x7 water supply, and an additional ₹3,000 crore spent under the AMRUT 1.0 and 2.0 schemes between 2015 and 2025, the promised infrastructure remains largely invisible to the common citizen.

JSAI representatives have criticized the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, arguing that the privatization of water distribution has weakened public oversight and led to a dangerous neglect of public health in favor of service delivery metrics.

Do you experience supply of water on a daily basis?

In response to these findings, JSAI has submitted its preliminary report to the Registrar of the High Court, demanding an independent investigation into the Bhagirathpura incident and a declaration of a public health emergency. The group’s demands include the immediate implementation of continuous pressurized water supplies, strict adherence to national quality manuals to eliminate bacteriological contamination, and an independent third-party evaluation of all sanitation systems. Furthermore, the Abhiyan has called for a compensation of ₹1 crore for the families of the deceased, arguing that the government’s current ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh is woefully inadequate given the gravity of the negligence.

The activists, including Dr. G.D. Verma, Rahul Yadav, and Sajida Khan, have urged the state government to move beyond localized fixes and conduct a comprehensive, large-scale audit of the water supply status in all major cities. They emphasize that safe water is a fundamental right, and the current reliance on aging, leaking pipelines—often running parallel to sewage lines—must be addressed through a transparent and accountable overhaul of the municipal water management system.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog