It is not only the villagers in rural areas who walk great length to fetch a bucket or two of water. In place like Ulhasnagar where residents allege unequal distribution of water, Narayan Bhattacharya, 90 and his wife Smruti, 80, are getting their water needs met from Ambernath.
Water crisis is severe and serious in Thane district and is the cause of hardships for many residents of the central suburbs. One such place is Ulhasnager, where irregular water supply has made Gautam Banerjee and his wife take 80 liters of water daily from Ambernath to their in-laws, who stay at Ulhasnagar.
It is not only the villagers in rural areas who walk great length to fetch a bucket or two of water. In place like Ulhasnagar where residents allege unequal distribution of water, Narayan Bhattacharya, 90 and his wife Smruti, 80, are getting their water needs met from Ambernath. These needs are met by their obliging son-in-law Gautam Banerjee, 54, who fetches drums of water and supplies it daily to their house. Banerjee has been doing this since the past three months.
"Since January, my in-laws have been at the receiving end of water shortage," said Banerjee, who works as a consultant. "My wife is their only daughter and as they are old, we are taking water to their house daily," he added.
From the beginning of this year, Kailash Colony in Ulhasnagar 5 have been facing acute water shortage. The residents allege that they get water once in three days and in the last month, there was no water for 14 days. "While people in the area go to the wells and bore wells to fetch water, my in-laws are old and cannot do so. Hence, we get water for them," he added.
From January, Banerjee has been ferrying drums of water on his two-wheeler from his residence at Mohanjyot in Ambernath to Ulhasnagar. "I have bought two 40 liters drum and one drum fits in at a time on my Activa. So, I take two rounds to my in-laws house with two drums and 10 litre bottles of drinking water," he said.
While he takes one drum of water for non-drinking purpose, one drum is for cooking and small seven to eight 1.5 litre bottles are for drinking.
Banerjee's own society has three-day a week water cut, but efficient water management by the society has helped them tower this crisis. "Last year, we undertook rainwater harvesting and linked it to the borewell and the well has the rainwater, which is being used now," he added.
Though he is happy being a good son-in-law, these daily rounds have become a burden to him. "Let us hope it rains well this year and we never face such a crisis again," he said.
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