More than 100 people from Shahapur town in Thane district gathered at Azad Maidan on Tuesday to undertake a protest march for water.
More than 100 people from Shahapur town in Thane district gathered at Azad Maidan on Tuesday to undertake a protest march for water. The march, which they called ‘Jaldindi Padyatra’ (protest march for water). Was led by Kapil Patil, former chairman of Thane District Co-operative bank and BJP leader Santosh Shinde.
“By doing Padyatra we are demanding adequate water supply to our people who supply water to Mumbaikars but we are living in thirst and facing water scarcity,” said Mr Shinde. Shahapur town has four dams — Bhatsa, Tansa, Modak Sagar & the Middle Vaitarna that supply water to Mumbai daily via pipelines.
One of the protesters said, “The amount of water Mumbai gets supplied for a day can be utilised for one year by Shahapur people and very few Mumbaikars know from where they get water i.e. our place and don’t value it. Women have to go 6-8 kilometres to get water from small pits in the dried riverbeds and collect every single drop from there.”
Another serious issue Shahapur people face is youth unemployment, which has risen due to Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation shutting down its units. “If (BMC & government) won’t help us and give us justice then we will stop the water supply for Mumbaikars to make them realise how it feels to survive without water,” said Mr Shinde.
