The project which cost Rs 8.40 crore is part of the second phase of a larger ambitious plan by the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to supply 90 MLD water and aims to quench the need of Manda, Titwala, Umbharni, Balyani and Atali villages with a population of over 12,000.

Early this month, Kulkarni had complained to Chief Minister Narayan Rane that Sheikh was "throwing his weight around with total disregard for local elected representatives." The letter further said that the Labour Minister had taken all the credit while she did the running around to get the project off the ground. Speaking at the inaugural function, Sheikh claimed, "The localcorporator was not even born when I had visions about this project."

In his speech, Kirtikar claimed, "The alliance government has been instrumental in bringing down the number of tankers operating in Maharashtra down from 2,800 tankers in May 98 to 250 tankers in May 99," conveniently leaving out whether this was linked to improvement of water availability or not.

When pointed out that there are over 250 tankers operating just in Mira-Bhayander, he told Express Newsline, ``Now that is a totally different matter and cannot be linked with the figures for the rest of Maharashtra.'' He further said, ``Even in Mira-Bhayander we will be able to solve the water problem as soon as the new 50 MLD project is ready.''

However, the 50 MLD water project for Mira-Bhayander ran into a hurdle at the take-off stage after the BMC and TMC went back on their word to jointly fulfil Mira-Bhayander's need.