Governance deficit: Indore tragedy highlights systemic flaws

The Indore water tragedy exposes deep flaws in urban governance, revealing how capacity gaps and inequality persist despite funds, schemes, and "clean city" rankings

The reported deaths in Indore of at least 10 people, including a baby, and the hospitalisation of 200 others, after consuming contaminated water, give a grim example of the lack of preparedness and capacity to fulfil obligations  — the factor that lies at the heart of India’s civic governance systems. Ironically, this tragedy has occurred in a city that has been voted India’s cleanest city eight consecutive times since 2017. The fact that it occurred in one of the poorest areas of the city, Bhagirathpura, also points to the asymmetric access to municipal services between the rich and the poor. This, too, is characteristic of civic governance in India. 

Indore manifestly did not appear to suffer from a shortage of funds to deal with the supply of potable water. In 2004, the Asian Development Bank had given the four major cities in Madhya Pradesh — Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, and Jabalpur — a $200 million loan to expand and upgrade water-supply systems. But everywhere in Indore, water supply remains unfit for drinking. Where the affluent cope with expensive water-filtration systems, the poor suffer the most. The city’s supply lines are over 50 years old in some cases and gutters and drainage pipes have been installed directly on top of them. Even a small leak can trigger a major health tragedy. In Bhagirathpura, the proximate cause of the crisis was the leakage of sewage water from a toilet that was built without a septic tank. In 2019, notwithstanding the “clean city” accolades, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) pointed to serious defects in Indore’s water-management system. Among them was the fact that it took between 22 and 108 days for the municipal corporation to contain leakages. Under the Centre’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT) mission, Indore received roughly ₹1,700 crore to expand and upgrade infrastructure and build treatment plants to ensure 100 per cent coverage, scheduled for completion in December 2026. In August last year, a ₹2.4 crore tender was floated to replace the Bhagirathpura pipeline following complaints of dirty, smelly water supply. No work on this has begun, not even rudimentary repairs. 

Hard questions are being asked now and much action is being taken after the fact. Several municipal officials have been suspended pending investigation. The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of the tragedy and issued notices to the state administration, seeking a detailed report in two weeks. A three-member investigative committee has been formed. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said no stone would be left unturned to ensure such a tragedy did not occur. It is unclear whether this resolve will result in vital reforms in municipal governance: Of capacity creation and accountability as standard operating procedures rather than an exercise in damage control. The exposure of Indore’s institutional weaknesses is endemic to Indian cities. Some of India’s richest corporations — among them Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Ahmedabad — are manifestly incapable of dealing with the impact of rapid urbanisation. The result is that urban India is marked by unsightly and poorly planned construction, which can be seen in badly maintained and insufficient drainage, causing dangerous floods each year; overflowing garbage; a lack of road space, making traffic jams a permanent feature; and, everywhere, toxic air. At the very least, this latest tragedy should be treated as a wakeup call.