Acute shortage in Mumbai leads to water looting

Reeling under acute water shortage owing to massive municipal cuts, slum and chawl dwellers in several localities in the city forced the emptying of tankers on their way to housing societies.

But no police complaints were filed. Tanker operators revealed that at least 100 vehicles were forced to unload water at places like Jogeshwari (East), Borivli, Saki Naka, Goregaon (West) and Malad (West).

A tanker operator from Malad said the drivers of four of his vehicles were overpowered by local politicians near Liberty Garden and forced to part with the water.

“We could not resist as we have to fill our tankers from the area every day,” he said. “We did not want to enrage the locals as they too needed the water. They are poor and cannot afford tanker water.”

The operators stopped supply by noon, which resulted in shortage for Malad, Goregaon and Andheri West. “I ordered my supplier to send a 10,000-litre tank at 8am but am still waiting,” Dalbir Singh, secretary, Yashodham cooperative housing society, Oshiwara, told DNA at 7pm. “The residents received water for just two hours.”
Not that tankers are a perfect solution to the water problem. “We pay Rs475 per tanker, but the water we received yesterday (Thursday) was very dirty,” he said. Several high-rises have displayed in bold the timings for municipal water supply, which is sometimes relatively clean.