Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, AUG 27: It was an unlikely bunch of candidates who took up the issue of south Mumbai's water problems at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today. With elections round the corner, those in the fray have suddenly realised that votes won't flow unless water does.
Today's standing committee meeting saw a discussion on the matter after Subhash Mayekar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the BMC (who is also contesting the Assembly elections) raised the issue. A resident of Malabar Hill, Mayekar tried to explain the problems due to the water shortage. ``I had to have a bath in the sea today,'' he screamed, which made other members burst into laughter. But Mayekar appeared to be genuinely upset and soon others joined in.
Yakub Memon of Samajwadi Party pointed out that candidates in South Mumbai had to face a lot of embarrasment as voters had only one demand for the moment: ``First give us water, then ask for votes.'' The committee members also blamed the administration fortaking the issue very lightly.
A portion of a 1,450 diameter water pipeline had developed a major leakage at Nana Chowk last week. The civic administration had announced that repairs will be carried out on August 27 and 28 but now it will take one more day.
Mayekar pointed out that the leakage in the pipeline was at three points -- including Tulsiwadi -- where the residents had been complaining for a long time. He suggested that the administration should repair all the three leakages at one time as this would reduce the inconvenience for the residents in future.
Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Subodh Kumar then informed that the repair work would be completed by Saturday evening and that he ``hoped'' the water supply would resume by Sunday.
Civic officers are facing a lot of practical problems in repairing the pipeline, he said. ``Firstly, the leakage is about 15 feet below the ground and it is not possible to carry out repair work when there is a high tide. This means that we have to take abreak after 12 hours of work,'' he explained. The civic administration was also seeking assistance from Navy divers to detect the leakage, he added.
Residents however are not too happy. Forget shortage, C ward residents complained that they had not received any water at all today though they were supposed to get 30 per cent water supply.
Subodh Kumar on the other hand assured that residents could ``bring in tankers and take water from water reserviors.'' But this came in for criticism from corporators, who pointed out that the solution would work only for the rich. Committee chairperson Sada Sarvankar requested the administration to make use of all the tankers in the city for supplying water to the residents.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------