According to Gomtipur corporator Iqbal Shaikh, the incident took place near the Bapunagar bus stop on Thursday. As the water tank arrived, people rushed to get as much water as they could.
The water crisis in the city has left people in anger and with no other option but to steal water from the water tanks. Violence has taken over the situation and in one such incident, residents living near the Maleksaban stadium at Bapunagar attacked a water tanker driver and beat him.
According to Gomtipur corporator Iqbal Shaikh, the incident took place near the Bapunagar bus stop on Thursday. As the water tank arrived, people rushed to get as much water as they could. However, since the supply was not sufficient for all the residents, some took to stealing it.
"People were angry that less water was being supplied to them through tankers by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. They thrashed the driver who then fled the spot leaving the tanker there," said Iqbal Shaikh. Shaikh blamed the AMC for the mismanagement.
On Saturday, AMC's water supply committee held a meeting to discuss the future course of action. During the meeting, Congress corporators made serious allegations against the chairman of the committee Jatin Patel, accusing him of failing in his duties.
Congress corporators Haji Mirza and Iqbal Shaikh walked out the meeting half way. "In this severe crisis, majority of the top officials including the city engineer is absent from the meeting which reflects their lack of concern," said Mirza.
According to them, people living in east, central and new west zone are severely affected by the water cut. "They are not only given less water but also polluted water," said Mirza.
"Many wards require at least 50 to 60 rounds of water tankers per day, but the AMC is providing 12 to 15 tankers per day" said Shaikh, who believes that attacks on drivers and tankers will rise if no steps are taken.
However, chairman of the water supply committee Jatin Patel feels that the situation is under control. "We are providing 800 million litres per day (MLD) which is only 250 MLD less than the normal water supply to the city dwellers" said Patel. He also assured to increase the frequency of tankers in areas like Bapunagar. "We will also hire the takers if needed. I have already asked all the ward engineers to act fast in this matter," added Patel.
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