After a wait of more than eight years, the water supply to the twin-city will soon increase by 1.5 MLD. Stung by the cold-shoulder response shown by the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC) to the repeated pleas seeking restoration of their allotted quota of water, a delegation of civic officials led by legislator- Geeta Jain and commissioner- Dilip Dhole, met Water Resources Minister-Jayant Patil seeking his intervention into the matter.
“The minister not only ordered the BMC to start a trial run of the supply but also directed officials to submit a compliance report within a week.” informed Jain.
After the Zilla Parishad, Thane commissioned a water scheme in 1967 for the erstwhile villages in the twin-city, the BMC had agreed to supply 2.5 MLD, this apart from shouldering the responsibility of providing water to various industrial establishments on the highway and those falling under the MIDC. The arrangements worked for nearly four decades, however after a major breakdown owing to road widening work, the services came to a screeching halt never to resume again.
This despite the fact that the MBMC not only spent Rs.60 lakh as their contribution towards laying new water supply lines, but also deposited Rs.22.20 lakhs towards security deposit for cross connections. It should be noted that after an in-principle approval by the BMC to amplify the twin-city’s supply by 1.5 MLD on 22, January, 2014, the MBMC went on to facilitate water connections to new MHADA settlements in the twin-city.
However, when the logjam failed to reach its logical end, the MBMC had even threatened to snap water supply to all MHADA tenements. As against the requirement of over 225 MLD, the twin-city has an allotted supply of 211 MLD provided jointly by the MIDC (125 MLD) and STEM (86 MLD) water supply authority. However, the actual supply continues to hover below 200 MLD as the twin-city is still losing a huge quantity of potable water in transit on a daily basis owing to leakages, unaccounted supply and theft.
