India, Jan. 5 -- The recent deaths and hospitalisations in Indore due to contaminated drinking water expose a deeply troubling paradox. For the past several years, Indore has enjoyed the enviable distinction of being India's cleanest city - an informal benchmark for urban sanitation and municipal performance across the country. Yet these deaths underline a stark reality: A city can appear clean on the surface and still fail in its most fundamental public health responsibility - ensuring safe drinking water.

This tragedy was neither sudden nor unforeseeable. It was the culmination of repeated and unheard complaints from residents of the localities affected, first reported as early as July 2025 and again in October 2025. Reports of foul-sm...