MUMBAI, December 2: Even as the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC)'s decision to charge compulsory water tax irrespective of whether a residence may or may not have water connection has come in for sharp censure from the High Court, the general body meeting in the UMC saw heated debate on this issue today.

The resolution had been passed by the cash-strapped UMC as a fund-raising measure. On November 26, the HC had stayed the resolution, saying `the mode of collecting water charges on the basis of the area of the premises is arbitrary.'

The issue got polarised on Sindhi-non-Sindhi lines, with Congress corporator Subhash Mansulkar wondering ``why all the water problems surface in non-Sindhi areas of Ulhasnagar only?'' He alleged that corporators had always neglected slum areas where the non-Sindhis resided.

Sena member Prakash Mahadik asked in return, ``The Congress has always tried to fool the electorate by having them believe that the Sena is communal while it is secular. But Mansulkar has proved to the house who can get communal when the need arises?''

Ulhasnagar has been crippled by a water problem since 1991. The civic body owes the MIDC a water bill of over Rs 40 crore, which it has not been able to pay inspite of taking all kinds of loans from funding organisations. The township needs at least 98 MLD water to cater to the increasing population.

However, the MIDC refused to provide more than 60 MLD in the face of non-payment of bills together. Attacking the Congress stand, Republican Party of India corporator B B More said, ``What moral right does the Congress have to attack any other party when it is itself responsible for all the ills plaguing the civic body?''

This was enough for Congress corporator Hardas Makhija, who rose to protest asking mayor Gannet Chaudhary to restrain More, whom he accused of being unable to ``conduct himself in a house.'' When RPI members began shouting to protest, Congress members too tried to match their lung power and ran toward the dais.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.