Mumbai: Corporators claim uneven water supply, cuts are over 50%

Signs of a big battle, which lies ahead, started appearing in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after party corporators made a ruckus over the uneven water supply during the standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

The corporators blamed the administration for the leakages, low pressure, cuts in the supply time, uneven supply and the upcoming 'tanker mafia raj'.

The civic body had imposed a 10 per cent water cut from November 14 after the city received poor rainfall this monsoon. Though the proposed water cut for an uninterrupted water supply till next monsoon was accepted by everyone, some of the areas have been getting less than 50 per cent water, corporators from all parties claimed.

"Some parts of my ward are not getting even 50 per cent water. There is no planning or management. We had complained several times. We accepted the 10 per cent water cut but at least provide us with the rest of the 90 per cent water," said Abhijeet Samant, a corporator from Andheri East. Other corporators echoed a similar sentiment.

Opposition leader Ravi Raja accused the hydraulic department of not solving leakage issues. Makarand Narvekar from Colaba termed it as an artificial scarcity. "It will boost the tanker mafias' business in coming days. Many people have already started buying water from tankers," he added. Rajul Patel from Jogeshwari West said, "BMC is not supplying water with adequate pressure and even the supply period has also been cut short. We even have an issue of contaminated water."

An official from the hydraulic engineering department assured that the department was working to find a solution. Ashok Kumar Tawadia, Chief Engineer of the hydraulic department told the committee member, "We have 15 per cent less water compared to last year's stock, which is why we had implemented a 10 per cent water cut. We are working on micro-planning the water cuts. Sometimes, the level of the reservoir is not maintained. We had a meeting on this issue in the western suburbs and now will arrange a meeting in the Eastern suburbs and city as well."