Kalina, along with Bandra, Khar and Santacruz east resembled a Marathwada village past two days since the areas has not received any water supply from the BMC
Kalina, along with Bandra, Khar and Santacruz east resembled a Marathwada village past two days since the areas has not received any water supply from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Supply was shut since the civic body undertook major repairs. While they claimed that they had notified residents, residents maintained they were not given any intimation. There was no water supply in these areas on Thursday night, though BMC assured there will be supply on Friday morning.
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The BMC has taken up the work of installing plates on Vaitarna pipeline between Sahar anchor block to Skada cabin in Bandra. Besides, it has also undertaken repair work of Upper Vaitarna pipeline. The BMC had issued a statement on January 15 that there will be no supply in the H-East ward between 11 am on January 19 to 4 am on January 21. H-east ward consists of Khar east, Santacruz east and Bandra east.
The worst hit, was the village of Kalina in the interiors of Santacruz. There was no water supply in the area on Wednesday and Thursday and since many of the residents are villagers and slum dwellers, they don't have storage tanks in their houses. While those who could afford it, got a private water tanker, while those who could not, had to gather at the local village well. The well had been lying unused for years but on Thursday, there were a large number of people gathered around it to fill water in buckets and handis.
Nagesh Gaikwad was helping some of the women from his area draw water from the steep well. "There wasn’t any water here yesterday or today. We were not intimated about the issue. How can we stay without water? I don't even know if we will get water tomorrow."
Sita Rathod, another resident of neighboring Jambhli Pada, said, "Yesterday we at least had some stock. But today there is not even a drop of water. I have a pile of utensils waiting to be cleaned. I will be using this well water for that. But we can't drink this water without boiling."
Robert Quiney, 78, said, "At this age, I can’t even fill bucket-loads of water. So we had to resort to a tanker today. But for how long will this go on? We have been buying mineral water for drinking since yesterday."
Crompton, a social worker from the area said, "There has to be a nexus between the tanker mafia and the civic officials. I have been studying the water problem of this area for a long time. Repairs are possible in a day. It is alright if they are undertaking repairs, but couldn't the work have been completed yesterday? I think there was some mistake and they left work halfway yesterday."
Meanwhile, in upmarket Santacruz also the same problem has persisted.
Sunil Joshua, resident of Raj Kutir society said that there had been no intimation from the BMC and citizens had to resort to a tanker. "We haven’t been informed that there will be no water supply. People were caught off guard. We have also had to call for a tanker."
Residents of Khar east and Bandra east also faced a similar problem.
BMCspeak:
Prashant Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner, H-East ward said, "Major repairs were undertaken due to which there was no supply. But we had given due intimation to residents. On Thursday, there was supply in the ward except Kalina. Everywhere supply has been resumed, albeit with low pressure."
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