Water crisis: Congress stages protest at Rajwada

Indore: Congress city unit on Tuesday held a protest at Rajwada against escalating water crisis in Indore, calling it a failure of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC).

Led by party state president Jitu Patwari and IMC leader of opposition Chintu Chouksey, hundreds of party workers, including a large number of women carrying empty earthen pots, staged a sit-in before marching toward the corporation headquarters.

Addressing the gathering, Patwari alleged that nearly 90 percent of the city’s accessible groundwater had become contaminated and unfit for consumption, leaving citizens without adequate drinking water. Former minister Sajjan Singh Verma criticised Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava’s administration, terming him an ‘accidental mayor’ unable to handle the summer water deficit.

The protest witnessed physical scuffles when police blocked main gates of IMC headquarters and enforced traffic diversions around Khajuri Bazar. Protesters clashed with security personnel while breaking earthenware pots against the barricades to symbolize dry taps.

Patwari said that Congress would release an independent, comprehensive field report within three days detailing localized water quality and supply deficits across the city.

Bhargava dismissed the opposition’s protest as an attempt to create panic and misinformation. Countering the allegations, Mayor challenged Congress corporators to provide a transparent public accounting of the municipal water tankers allocated to their respective wards to verify distribution efficiency.

Bhargava said that below-average rainfall during previous monsoon cycle led to drying up of thousands of public and private tubewells across the city this year. He, however, emphasized that neighbourhoods featuring active rooftop rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge systems maintained stable groundwater levels through the peak summer heat.