As the city experiences one of its worst water crises, with many residents not getting water for hours to days, it is business as usual for those who tap water illegally.
In my Right to Information (RTI) application, I had questioned the public information officer (water works) K West, in February 2009, about the water supply in municipal ward. He gave a truly ingenious reply, that the ward office was too busy with day-to-day administrative work, that they didn’t have any time to answer the query, but they assured me that they were compiling it. Till today, that reply is still awaited.
In September 2009, I posed another RTI query and asked whether the civic corporation is supplying water to private tankers from two civic corporation water valves near Gokhale flyover bridge. The public information officer (water works) K West replied in the negative and mentioned that he had no information on the private water contractors.
This is totally untrue. The pictures show tankers filling up from these valves continually. This has been going on for several since years. The tankers also corrode the surface of the roads, since motorways are not used to so much load. Private water tankers also flout the ‘No-Entry’ stipulations.
Regarding privatisation of water supply, corporate groups advertise that their packaged drinking water is from the mountains. This is a complete hogwash and the malpractice must be brought to book.
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