India, Jan. 7 -- The government has made an ex-gratia payment of Rs.2 lakh to the next-of-kin of 18 people who died in the Indore locality where hundreds of people have fallen ill due to contaminated drinking water, Indore district collector Shivam Verma said on Wednesday.

Verma said the financial assistance was given to the family of people who died in Indore's Bhagirathpura colony in the past two weeks following instructions of chief minister Mohan Yadav.

The official list of deceased due to the contaminated water will, however, be updated on the recommendations of a panel of doctors tasked to analyse the cause of death after examining symptoms and treatment, he said.

Yadav on Tuesday announced that he had instructed officials to mak...