Bhopal: Survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal on Monday, August 3, accused the Bhopal Municipal Corporation of creating a situation like Indore’s Bhagirathpura by supplying contaminated water in the residential areas around the abandoned factory.
The leaders of four organisations representing the survivors presented a report on the quality of drinking water in these areas showing that nearly 70% of water samples tested positive for faecal coliform, indicating extensive contamination.
In late December 2025 and January 2026, a severe water contamination crisis struck Bhagirathpura, a lower-income neighbourhood in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The municipal water supply mixed with raw sewage from a toilet pit built directly over a leaking main water pipeline, causing a massive outbreak of severe vomiting and diarrhoea that resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of hospitalisations.
Nawab Khan, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, said, “We tested 63 water samples from taps in 30 communities this month, and the presence of faecal coliform was confirmed in 43 samples. There is clear evidence that drinking water supplied to 19 out of 30 communities is contaminated with faeces.” He said that 90% samples of drinking water supplied from Upper Lake and 25% samples of water supplied from Kolar Dam were found to be contaminated.
“Residents in the communities next to the abandoned Union Carbide factory are suffering from a host of waterborne diseases from drinking faeces-contaminated water. Entire families are complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting, and private clinics are reporting too many cases of typhoid,” said Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Supreme Court also took note
She pointed out that in 2004, the Supreme Court was made aware of contamination of the groundwater in these areas with toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching from recklessly dumped hazardous waste from the Union Carbide factory, and the apex court ordered the supply of piped drinking water to protect the health of the residents.
According to Balkrishna Namdeo, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha, said that in August 2018, in response to complaints of faecal contamination in piped water, the Supreme Court had directed the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to lay down sewage lines and ensure proper drainage in this area. “The BMC promised to complete the work in three months but has not taken a single step in this direction in the last eight years,” he said.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action called for strict action against the officials responsible for supplying faeces-contaminated drinking water. “People should not have to die as in Bhagirathpura for officers to be punished for endangering the health of residents in violation of the orders of the apex court. We demand time-bound implementation of the plan for sewage and drainage in the area and a system of independent monitoring of drinking water quality to be set up immediately,” she said.
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