Overview
- The court directed immediate tanker supply at government cost, stoppage of water from contaminated pipelines, borewells and river sources, free treatment, comprehensive testing, pipeline replacement, online monitoring and strict chlorination.
- Chief Secretary Anurag Jain must appear by video on January 15 with a fresh statewide status report after the bench criticized earlier submissions and signaled potential civil or criminal liability.
- Officials reported faecal coliform and E. coli in 35 of 69 borewell samples, with additional pathogens such as Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella detected, and contamination found in the Narmada pipeline supply.
- Authorities declared an epidemic for waterborne diseases, banned street-food sales in affected localities and advised residents to avoid pipeline or borewell water and to use boiled tanker water.
- Deaths and case counts remain disputed, with official tallies ranging from six to ten and the opposition claiming 17, while 38 new cases were logged on Monday and about 110 patients are hospitalized, including roughly 15 in ICUs, as a NIRBI team investigates.