Reports of several deaths and a large number of people falling ill after consuming contaminated water in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, have triggered widespread concern across the country. Reacting sharply to the incident, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has demanded strict action from the authorities.
In a statement shared on social media on Friday, Mayawati described the incident as extremely tragic and shocking. She said that providing clean drinking water and clean air is the most basic responsibility of any government, but ”the Indore incident has exposed the negligence and apathy of the administrative machinery”.
She termed the episode not merely a local issue but a warning for the entire nation.
The BSP leader said that just as laxity in crime control and law and order leads to serious consequences, corruption and neglect in basic public services can also prove fatal. Ordinary citizens are being forced to pay for such failures with their lives, which she called deeply alarming.
Mayawati urged the state government to take immediate and stringent steps to prevent a recurrence of such incidents. She also appealed to the central government to take cognisance of the matter and ensure effective action so that similar tragic events do not occur in any other part of the country in the future. She emphasised that playing with the lives of the public cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.