As the city witnesses one of its worst water crises, with many residents not getting water for hours to days, it is business usual for those who tap water illegally.Near Aurora Cinema at Matunga, just about 150ft away from the civic ward office, a valve chamber of a water pipeline that carries water to central Mumbai, has been tampered with. Every day, between 6 am to 10 am, taxi drivers in the area illegally tap water from the main pipeline to wash their cars on the road.
“This has been continuing for six months. Around 40 taxis are washed daily using this water,” said Nikhil Desai, a local social activist. Ironically, the civic ward officehardly 250m away from the site. “I have complained twice, but these too have yielded no results,” said Desai.
Water pilferage and its illegal sale have become very common in areas near Kurar village at Malad. According to Ketan Gobani, a local resident, the water mafia had punctured holes in a pipeline running at the back side of the Times of India building. “Water is sold to slum dwellers from nearby slums,” Gobani said. A developer is illegally selling water at Kandarpada in Dahisar, he added.
The BMC had received complaints that caretakers of public toilets are illegally selling water from areas near Matunga, Dinanath Mangesh hall at Vile Parle and near Kurla railway station.
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