‘Don’t Let It Become Another Bhagirathpura’: MP’s Ujjain Residents Flag Alleged Groundwater Pollution

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): Residents of Parshwanath City near the Dewas Road industrial area reached the Collector’s office on Tuesday carrying containers of allegedly contaminated groundwater and sought urgent action against industrial pollution.

Men and women from the locality showed officials water that they claimed was dirty, foamy, foul-smelling and unusually coloured.

Residents alleged that chemical waste from chemical, pharmaceutical, pesticide and other industrial units behind the colony was being discharged into the ground, contaminating groundwater. They urged the administration not to allow the area to become “another Bhagirathpura”.

Members of the Parshwanath City Residents Society said complaints had been raised for nearly three months with the Collector’s office, District Industries and Trade Centre (DIC), Ujjain Municipal Corporation, Pollution Control Board and other departments, but no permanent solution had been found.

Residents said around 90 water sources in the colony depend on tube-wells and people were being forced to use the allegedly contaminated groundwater.

As the Collector was not present when the residents initially reached the public grievance hearing, they met Zila Panchayat EO Shreyansh Kumat and showed him the water samples. Later, they also apprised the Collector of the issue and sought action.

The residents demanded collection and testing of groundwater samples from the colony and industrial area at different laboratories. They also sought an immediate halt to the alleged disposal of chemical waste and demanded videography, photography and sampling at suspected discharge points.