MP: Indore Municipal Corp's Negligence Behind Stepwell Tragedy That Killed 36 People

Bhopal: As many as 36 people died in Indore after a slab constructed over 50 feet deep public well caved in on Thursday morning when devotees gathered for 'havan' to celebrate Ram Navami. The stepwell was encroached upon by the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple trust almost two decades ago after covering the bawdi with a concrete slab and constructed a temple over it.

Had the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) removed the encroachment after it gave seven days' eviction notice to the temple trust on January 30, 2023, the incident could have been averted.

Unlike previous complaints, last year, when residents dashed off a complaint to IMC pertaining to the removal of encroachment from the stepwell and the upcoming building of the temple trust on government land alongside the temple, the IMC served a notice to the trust seeking an explanation. In a two-page reply on April 24, 2022, the trust replied: "It is a century-old temple run by a registered trust. ... Any kind of eviction or hindrance in construction work would hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and it may create mayhem."

Almost nine months later, IMC woke up and rebuffed the temple trust's claims made in the letter, asking them to remove the encroachment within seven days. "The reply presented by the trust is baseless and unacceptable. Thus, if the trust did not remove encroachment within seven days it may attract eviction under section 307 of the Municipal Corporation Act 1956 and section 7 (3) of Land development rules 2012," the order copy reads. It was sent by the building officer of zone 18 of the corporation.

This happened when the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government claimed to have freed over 23,000 acres of government land from the ‘clutches of the land mafia’ by running a special drive.

Despite the eviction notice, the corporation failed to comply with it, leading to the death of 35 residents of the locality who were among those opposing the encroachment. When Newsclick reached out to Rajendra Garotiya, public relations officer of IMC, he said: "I don't know why the eviction was stopped."

Garotiya said: "Two officials concerned, PR Aroliya and Prabhat Tiwari, of the Building Department of the corporation have been suspended."

Kantibhai Patel, president of the Patel Nagar Residents Association, was among the first to reach the spot. He lost 11 members of his community in the tragic incident. Speaking to reporters, he said: "I arrived minutes after the incident and we pulled out seven people from the well. We were holding seven other people with the help of a rope, but the police, which arrived late at the spot, stopped us, resulting in their death."

Another resident claimed that when the temple trust was encroaching upon the stepwell and nearby areas, two men -- Kantilal Patel and Munnu Verma -- opposed it. "The encroachers attacked both the complainants and they sustained injuries on their heads. An FIR of the incident was registered at Juni police station of Indore. But owing to the influence of BJP councilor Sewaram Gilani, neither corporation nor police took action," said Mahesh Patel.

"Last year, when IMC launched a campaign to remove encroachments from government properties and parks, we thought that corporations would also take notice of it. But local leaders, including leaders of the ruling party, prevented it," Patel added.

CM orders Magisterial Probe, Announces Ex-gratia

A day after the deaths, Indore police booked two trustees of the temple under Section 304 (causing death by negligence) of the IPC and suspended two municipal officials.

According to Indore Collector Ilayaraja T, as many as 36 bodies were pulled out from the well, and 18 people were rescued with the help of the Army, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force. The family of each deceased will be given an ex-gratia of ₹4 lakh and the injured will be given ₹50,000 for treatment.

Chief Minister Chouhan and Home Minister Narottam Mishra were busy in the preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's April 1 Bhopal visit and visited the temple on Friday morning. Both the leaders who went to meet the affected families, returned in haste after enraged raised ‘Murdabad’ (condemning) slogans.

Speaking to reporters, Chouhan said: "We will leave no stone unturned in providing financial assistance to the victims. We have ordered an inspection of such swells across the state. A magisterial inquiry has been initiated which will submit the report in 15 days and action will be taken accordingly."

Collector Ilayaraja T has formed a probe team led by additional collector Abhay Bedekar for the inquiry.
   
Amit Sachdev, who was present at the spot, told PTI: “One of my female relatives was at the temple when the incident took place. The temple was built over the `bawdi’. There were a lot of people on the slab, and havan-puja was being done there when it collapsed. Everyone fell into the well full of water.” The temple is situated in Patel Nagar, a locality with a sizeable Sindhi- and Gujarati-speaking population, and as per local people, many of the victims belonged to these communities.

Congress MP and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh also visited the spot.

“How did the concrete slab of the temple come to be laid on top of the well and which officers gave permission for it — this should be thoroughly probed,” he said.