The mornings in Bhagirathpura, a densely populated neighbourhood in Indore, have lost their familiar rhythm. The usual sounds of life have been replaced by a tense silence and a deep-seated fear. This fear stems from the tap. In a cruel twist for the city consistently ranked as India's cleanest, residents are grappling with a severe health crisis caused by contaminated drinking water, turning daily survival into a cautious ordeal.
A Neighbourhood Gripped by Fear and Illness
The crisis has spared no one in this area, home primarily to daily-wage workers, domestic helpers, and small shop employees. Almost every household reports family members suffering from fever, vomiting, severe diarrhoea, and dehydration. The consumption of contaminated water has already led to multiple deaths, a reality the community is struggling to accept.
Parvati Suryavanshi, 62, frail and recovering from a brutal bout of diarrhoea, now waits patiently for water tankers outside her home. Inside, a blue plastic drum stands filled with the tanker-supplied water, its lid sealed tight. "We will boil this and drink it," she states quietly, a sentiment echoed across the lanes. "We no longer use tap water."
This new routine defines life in Bhagirathpura. Kitchens are lined with buckets and steel containers, all holding tanker water that is boiled repeatedly before anyone dares to consume it. The trust in the Narmada pipeline supply has been completely shattered. Kamla Kumari, while waiting for medicine for her sick mother-in-law, summarises the scale: "There is not a single house where someone hasn't fallen sick. We complained repeatedly. We cannot afford RO systems or bottled water; we are dependent on tankers."
Health Crisis Spirals into Financial Ruin
For families living on the edge, the health emergency has rapidly morphed into a devastating financial one. The cost of treatment is depleting meagre savings. Pushpa Morya's 77-year-old husband saw his condition deteriorate rapidly, forcing the family to shift him between three hospitals in search of better care.
"We spent nearly Rs 15,000 on treatment, and Rs 2,000 just on diapers," Morya revealed. "As his health worsened, we kept changing hospitals. Along with the illness, our savings are being exhausted." This story is not unique, as medical bills pile up for numerous families who can least afford them.
Adding to the anger is the perceived lack of timely warning from authorities. Residents initially rushed family members to nearby clinics, unaware of the common culprit. The pattern became clear only when it was too late. A young resident expressed the community's frustration: "If someone told us earlier that the water was unsafe, things would not reach this point. The water kept coming, and people kept getting sick."
The Bitter Irony of 'Cleanest City'
The most stinging aspect for locals is the stark contrast between Indore's national reputation and their grim reality. The city's accolades for cleanliness ring hollow in Bhagirathpura. Uma Bai voiced the collective fury: "Cleanliness seems to exist only on the roads. What flows inside the pipelines, no one bothered to check. We were served dirty water, and no one is taking responsibility."
As evening falls, women gather outside their homes, not for casual chatter, but to exchange grim updates on who is still hospitalised and who has been discharged. Life continues, but it is a life lived cautiously, with every glance at the tap laced with apprehension. The title of 'cleanest city' now carries a bitter aftertaste for those whose most basic need—safe water—has become a source of poison and fear.
