Maharashtra government claims there will be no water woes till June

The state government on Saturday assured that there would be no water scarcity in the city till June 15, even if the monsoons were delayed this year.

“The government has made provisions for water in such a way that Mumbaikars won’t have to worry about water cuts till at least June 15. Even if there is not much rainfall by then, water supply will be regular,” said minister of state for urban development, Bhaskar Jadhav, in the legislative council.

Jadhav was replying to a Calling Attention Motion raised by Congressman Jayprakash Chhajed. “The city is facing water scarcity and there is anger among the public over the issue. It was observed that pipelines burst several times due to ongoing infrastructure work carried by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), resulting in a wastage of a lot of water. This has also been responsible for spreading malaria and jaundice in the city,” Chhajed said.

Jadhav informed the council that three dams were being constructed in order to increase water supply to the city. “The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is building a middle-Vaitarna dam. The state government has carried out work on the Panjal dam and the MMRDA is also working on a third dam for the city. In fact, water resources minister Ajit Pawar has made a provision of 199 MLD (million litres per day) water for Mumbai from Bhatsa and Vaitarana dams,” he said.

The opposition took objection to Jadhav’s statement and questioned whether Pawar was giving away all the water to the city from his personal capacity. Shiv Sena’s Diwakar Raote interrogated Jadhav about the new provisions made by the government.

Jadhav, in return, argued that the BMC should increase water
resources for the city. To that, Sena’s Ramdas Kadam replied, “That would be possible if the BMC got at least 10 per cent of the revenue collected in Mumbai.”

Jadhav rejected Kadam’s demand with: “Mumbai is the financial capital of the country.” His statement angered Sena members, who then walked out of the house.