For the last three days, residents of Ulwe, Dronagiri, Kharghar and other areas in Navi Mumbai that fall under the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) have not received water supply.
The water supply in CIDCO-administered areas has been disrupted since Saturday, as work on changing a pipeline was delayed and the shutdown was extended.
On Sunday, CIDCO issued a statement, “As the work is delayed due to critical working conditions, the shutdown will be extended. The water supply will be resumed with less quantity and low pressure after 6 pm on October 2 onwards at CIDCO administered areas or Nodes like Kharghar Ulwe and Dronagiri. Inconvenience is regretted.”
However, residents of these nodes have expressed anger as even on the third day, the water supply has not been restored.
Residents of Kharghar complained that the problem with the water supply began on Monday last week and it aggravated from Saturday when the supply was completely stopped.
Rahul Tawde, a resident of sector twelve, said they haven't received water since Saturday and now rely on tankers. “When common people are not getting water, how the tankers are getting water,” questions Tawde.
He added that many big housing societies are using booster pumps to withdraw more water resulting in low pressure on small housing societies. “Despite repeated complaints, CIDCO failed to act against the tanker mafia and housing societies using booster pumps,” said Tawde. Furthermore, he filed a complaint against the tankers mafia and the alleged involvement of CIDCO officials with the vigilance department and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Rajesh Srivastava, a resident from Khargar said, “We are facing water issues for the last six months. This is another water cut when there was no information. There must be some permanent solution.”
Even residents of other areas have been complaining of poor water supply.
Jiten Patel, a resident of sector eight in Ulwe said that the water supply was stopped without any prior information. “We received a message after one day when the water supply was stopped,” said Patel.
Another resident from Ulwe, Dinesh Jogi said, “For the first two days, the society managed by rationing water. Now, there is no water and we have to depend on tankers. Any water cut should be informed in advance so that we can store water.”
There was no response despite numerous attempts to contact CIDCO's public relations department.
