Mumbai: In a huge relief for the residents of Mumbai, the Mumbai Water Tankers Association (MWTA) withdrew their strike on Monday and started regular the tanker water supply from the evening.
The announcement was made by MWTA, a day after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) invoked the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and took over operations of all private water tankers and borewells in the city.
The island city was reeling under severe water crisis as the MWTA went on strike from April 10, suspending all tanker water supply, as mark of protest against the notices issued to comply with Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) 2020 guidelines.
The MWTA withdrew their strike after meeting BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani who promised the association to help the well-owners conveying their demands to the Government of India, help them obtaining the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from CGWA, as well as revocation of notices issued to ring-well and borewells owners to shut the operations if they fail to obtain the NOC.
Speaking with The Free Press Journal, Gagrani said, "There were two types of notices issued. Notices which said closing down the operations of the wells which did not have NOC from CGWA, have been revoked. While the notice mandating the well-owners to obtain the NOC remains. However, it has been suspended until June 15."
Gagrani said the MWTA had their tankers, cleaners and drivers ready, and full fledged operations is expected to resume from Tuesday morning.
The water tankers can be called as a second life line of Mumbai as they supply as much as 300 million litres daily (MLD), with their fleet of around 1,800 to 2,000 tankers. From slum settlements to high-end residential complexes, from railways to all other government offices and hospitals to construction sites, the MWTA supplies water.
Currently, BMC supplies around 3,850 MLD to Mumbai city and suburbs against the demand of 4,200 MLD.
General Secretary of MWTA Rajesh Thakur said, "Although we have withdrawn the strike and resumed water supply, we stand on our objections that meeting all guidelines under the CGWA is not possible. In the city like Mumbai, it is impossible to have a 200 sq mts of land around the well, have flow meters etc. If every well-owners had this much land in Mumbai, we would build towers and not supply water."
"The BMC has now promised to appoint someone who will represent our demands to concerned authorities, cordinate with state government and central government," Thakur said.
Meanwhile, the association will apply for the NOC to CGWA for which CR Patil, union minister Jal Shakti has also announced single-window system.
Residential complexes like Kanakia Rainforest in Marol, which highly depend on tanker water to meet their daily needs, were elated to see water tanker in their premises on Monday.
"Our complex with 600 apartments recieves only 30% BMC water and 70% is tanker water. Last four days we were in severe crisis and came on roads in protest. Finally, we got tanker supply on Monday afternoon," said a resident Manoj Ganguli.
The residents demand 100% water supply from BMC itself and are protesting against charges payable to private water tankers.
