Fed up of water shortage, slum-dwellers at Mankhurd have dug up their own solution to end water woes to some extent.
Several residents of the shanties at Indira Nagar, Ekta Nagar and Shivneri Nagar have drilled wells for their daily non-potable water requirements.
Every day, almost every household spends an average of Rs100 to buy water from private suppliers. “Our area has been facing acute water shortage for a long time. While we have to depend on tankers to supply drinking water, we are forced to use water from wells for non-potable use,” said Rukhsana Sheikh, a resident of Indira Nagar slum and added that people have been using well water for nearly four years.
“The water level dips during winter and summer. We use the water for non-potable use, so that is not a big concern,” Sheikh added.
The slum-dwellers want the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to look into the problem. “The BMC supplies water for an hour only. It is not enough given the high density of population in the area. The civic body should look into the matter,” said Parshuram Dankar, a slum-dweller.
Even as demands get louder, it doesn’t seem like they will be heard anytime soon by the corporation which is strictly sticking to its policy of giving connections only to those shanty owners registered till January 1, 1995.
“There is no policy to give connections to those slums which came up after the cut-off date. If consumers who have registered before the mentioned date have not got a water connection, they should approach us with a copy of water bills and we will look into it,” said Ramesh Bamble, BMC hydraulic engineer.
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