Sixteen-year-old Mohammad Bilal Shaikh is a victim of the city’s water crisis. Bilal, a resident of Azmi Nagar in Malvani, had to drop out of class VI from school to quench his family’s thirst.
Resident of a non-notified slum colony, Bilal’s house does not get municipal water. While a boring in the locality takes care of the family’s non-potable needs, they have to purchase two gallons of water from private sources for drinking.
Bilal, who does the job of collecting the water, has to travel two kilometres to fetch it and the timings coincide with school hours. Earlier, water was available at a walking distance from their house but after the water crisis that source of water became inactive.
“The water has to be collected between 7-9am and Bilal has to do it,” mother Shakila said. “My husband, Kamruddin is a tempo driver and has to work during that time. The physical nature of the work - a cycle is used to collect the two gallons - rules my participation out. Being the eldest son in the family, Bilal has to chip in.”
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