Fresh row in Indore: Collector, mayor attend meeting in RSS office

Those aware of the closed-door discussions at the headquarters of RSS’s Malwa regional unit on Sudarshan Road said the meeting was convened by Rajmohan, RSS Malwa Prant Pracharak. Sources described it as a discussion focused on crisis management failures.

While the BJP rejected this claim and described it as a routine visit by the two officials, Madhya Congress president Jitu Patwari, who shared a video of the Mayor standing outside the RSS office, said, “When poison is flowing through Indore’s taps, when homes are plunged into mourning over the death of innocent citizens, when the government has failed, should the Collector be in the field, in hospitals, among the affected families, or inside the RSS office?”

Patwari said the “late-night arrival” of the Indore Collector and Mayor at the RSS office was “no routine visit”. He referred to this as a case of “cutting the nose of administrative impartiality”.

Dismissing the charge, BJP spokesperson Shivam Shukla said, “It was a courtesy meeting, and there was nothing wrong with it. Can’t officials meet people? The Congress should stop spreading misinformation about the meeting.”

Sources said the topic of discussion veered from coordination gaps, delayed response mechanisms and communication failures that allowed a negative public perception to build up regarding the contaminated water crisis.

“The RSS was apprised why the contamination happened, why the files did not move ahead in time, and about the overall handling of the situation. It was just a courtesy meeting. You can’t say they were being made answerable to the RSS,” a BJP functionary said.

Another functionary said, “They agreed that such an incident should not happen again. They spoke on the lack of coordination between the bureaucracy and the administration and ways to address it. They also spoke about how government officials should be more in touch with the citizens and how to address the growing gap to ensure this doesn’t repeat.”

The meeting has intensified the debate on institutional protocols. District Collectors, as officers of the Indian Administrative Service, function within a chain of command that runs through the state government. Mayors operate under municipal statutes.

According to the latest health bulletin by Indore’s Chief Medical and Health Officer, Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani, at least 446 people have been admitted to hospitals so far from the Bhagirathpura water contamination zone. Of these, 396 patients have been discharged, while 50 remain under treatment in hospitals. Officials said 10 patients are currently in the ICU, and two ambulances have been deployed exclusively for the affected neighbourhood.

While the state has told the High Court that the death toll was eight, government records show that the Indore district administration has distributed cheques of Rs 2 lakh to the families of 18 people in connection with the matter.