The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed Chief Secretary Anurag Jain to appear before it through video conference to explain the steps being taken to prevent water contamination, following several deaths linked to unsafe drinking water in Indore.

While the state government has said that eight persons died due to the polluted water, the Indore administration has given compensation cheques of Rs 2 lakh to 18 families, The Indian Express reported.

More than 1,400 persons have fallen ill with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area, with cases being first reported on December 24. On Tuesday as well, 38 new cases of vomiting and diarrhoea were reported from the area, the* Hindustan Times* reported.

A total of 142 persons have been hospitalised due to the outbreak, including 11 in intensive care units.

A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi, hearing a batch of petitions about the outbreak on Tuesday, noted that the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution includes the right to clean drinking water.

The court observed that water contamination is not limited to Indore but is a statewide problem. It then directed the chief secretary to appear before it on January 15 to apprise the court of the steps being taken by the state to prevent such incidents.

The bench also asked the official to inform the court of immediate and emergency measures for affected persons in Bhagirathpura, including preventive and corrective steps.

It sought details on disciplinary and penal action, compensation for victims, directions to local bodies, and measures to ensure public awareness and transparency in the matter.

The court also directed the state to ensure that safe drinking water is immediately supplied to the affected areas through tankers or packaged water at government cost, and to provide free medical screening and treatment to affected residents.

The authorities in Indore had earlier said that residents of the Bhagirathpura area had complained that the water supplied to them had an unusual smell.

On Monday, unidentified officials told the Hindustan Times that more than half the groundwater samples taken from borewells in Bhagirathpura had tested positive for E coli bacteria, a day after the outbreak. The presence of E coli in water indicates faecal contamination and a possible risk of disease.