New Delhi: Weeks after several deaths in Indore due to water contamination, a fresh outbreak has been reported in Mhow, a cantonment town near the city.
The recent cases have been registered around 20 km from the earlier hotspot Bhagirathpura in Indore city.
In the last 10 days, around 25 people have been infected by the contaminated water supply. The areas affected are Patti Bazar and Moti Mahal.
In Mhow, six children from the same family have been affected by the contaminated water. “The residents of the colony have complaint to the authority regarding the bad quality of water. But they didn’t take cognisance. My family is severely affected due to contamination. Our demand is clean drinking water supply and the government should take strict action against officials who didn’t respond to our complaints,” said Mithora, a resident of Mhow.
The Mhow incident has revived the memories of the Bhagirathpura outbreak. In Bhagirathpura, the contamination was traced to sewage mixing with piped drinking water.
Local MLA Usha Thakur visited the area and met the infected families on Thursday night.
A team of the Madhya Pradesh health department is carrying out a door-to-door survey in the area. “We saw that the (drinking) water pipeline is crossing through the drain. It’s the primary reason for the infection. Details will come after the detailed inspection,” a member of the health department team carrying out the survey told ThePrint.
The health department team has been present at the site since Friday morning under the directions of the chief medical officer Madhav Hasani. On the direction of the collector, a team from Indore Medical College is also being sent to the affected area.
The health department team member said among the infected are children and old people. Due to water contamination, many students could not take their pre-board exams.
No deaths reported
However, so far no deaths have been reported from the Mhow outbreak. Indore Collector Shivam Verma visited Mhow Thursday night and also met patients undergoing treatment at the Red Cross hospital. “The patients are under treatment and the administration is closely monitoring the situation,” Verma said.
In Indore, more than 1, 400 fell ill and 25 died late december 2025 and in January due to water contamination.
Congress state president Jitu Patwari took a dig at CM Mohan Yadav in a post on X. “The Chief Minister is drinking Bisleri water in Switzerland, while the people of the state are still falling ill from drinking contaminated water. Just like in Indore, people in Mhow had been complaining about the dirty water for months, yet no action was taken,” Patwari on said, adding that people’s health was not a matter of trial and error.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)