Mayor-in-Council (MiC) member Sardar Tara Singh has expressed his strong opposition to the project. ``It is not the civic body's duty to sell mineral water. There was no need to go ahead with it. Also there are several areas where drinking water is barely or not available,'' he said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Shetty said he would redouble his efforts to convince his partymen about the commercial viability of the scheme, specially when it would help the dwindling finance of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Shetty's scheme to provide mineral water at a much lower price than the market price has not been received well, especially by his partymen. The preliminaries to get the scheme off ground is complete. A site at the Bhandup water treatment complex has been selected forthe mineral water plant. Private companies who evince interest in the project will be provided land, power and and water free by the BMC.

However, Shetty had a complaint against the media. ``It has projected the scheme in a wrong way. Even the private companies were ready to pay royalty to BMC. The BJP should not have done this when the project was gaining momentum. Even if the BJP is opposed, Shiv Sena's backing should be sufficient for the project,'' he added.

Shetty admitted that his attempts to get the opposition Congress and Samajwadi Party to support him has been a very trying. Neither Congress leader Kisan Jadhav nor SP's Yusuf Abrahani have replied to his letter. Jadhav informed that he had called for project papers and would study its various aspects before taking a decision.