LoP Umang Singhar launches water audit in Indore:Begins from Muslim-majority area, says, ‘Govt’s incompetence forced me to personally initiate inspection across city’

Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and Congress leader Umang Singhar launched a water audit in Indore on Wednesday, beginning in the Muslim-majority area of Madina Nagar. The initiative comes amid repeated complaints of contaminated tap water being supplied across several parts of the city, raising serious concerns about public water safety. Meanwhile, the city—ranked as India’s cleanest for the eighth consecutive year—finds itself at the centre of a row as the death toll in the tap water contamination case rises to 20.
The state government, however, informed the state high court that only four people died due to contaminated water, despite providing Rs 2 lakh each to the families of 18 deceased. Inspection, sample collection at ground level During his visit, Singhar interacted with residents, listened to their complaints, and carried out on-the-spot inspections. He personally collected water samples for testing, stating that polluted water continues to be supplied in many localities of Indore. Local residents told him that foul-smelling and dirty water was flowing from taps, raising fears of the spread of diseases. Singhar said the government and the municipal corporation’s negligence had forced him to personally step in and conduct the water audit. ‘Government’s incompetence forced me to act’ “The government’s incompetence has compelled me to start a water audit in Indore myself. We are continuously receiving complaints that contaminated water is still being supplied in several areas. This is an extremely serious issue,” Singhar said. Congress leaders said that Singhar will tour different parts of the city, especially areas where complaints of polluted water supply by the municipal corporation have surfaced. The tour began at 10:30 am and is scheduled to continue till late evening, with Singhar directly engaging with citizens to assess the water situation. Serious allegations against the mayor a day earlier A day earlier, on Tuesday, Singhar had levelled serious allegations against Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava during a media interaction. He claimed that a currency note-counting machine was installed in the mayor’s office. Singhar said he could not call Bhargava a “people’s mayor,” suggesting instead that he should be referred to as a “slip-based mayor.” He questioned why a note-counting machine was present in the mayor’s office and whether contractors were making cash payments, or if there was some other reason behind it. He alleged a glaring lack of sensitivity in the entire matter. Water contamination incident termed administrative failure Singhar said that if Indore were truly a clean city, people would not have died after consuming sewage-mixed water in Bhagirathpura. He alleged that more than 16 people have died so far in the water contamination incident that began in the last week of December 2025, while hundreds fell ill and thousands were affected. Calling the incident not an accident but the result of prolonged administrative negligence and delayed decision-making, Singhar demanded accountability from the state government.