Peeved at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) drawing water from reservoirs in their area, the scarcity-hit villages from Shahapur in neighbouring Thane district on Tuesday threatened to stop
Peeved at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) drawing water from reservoirs in their area, the scarcity-hit villages from Shahapur in neighbouring Thane district on Tuesday threatened to stop the water supply to Mumbai if the government fails to ensure adequate water for them.
Around 300 people, led by local BJP leader Santosh Shinde, who had embarked on the Jaldindi Padyatra on March 14 to register their protest against the civic body, on Tuesday reached Mumbai after covering the distance of around 75 km and met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Submitting their 10-point demands to the chief minister, the group, including women, requested him that they be adopted by the BMC so that entire Shahapur taluka will become tanker-free.
“Through this padyatra, we demand adequate water provision for us too, otherwise, we will have no choice but to stop the supply of water which is being diverted to Mumbaikars from our soil,” Mr Shinde said while addressing the gathering at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai. He said they have submitted their demands to the CM and are hopeful that their problems would get resolved soon. The outskirts of Shahapur tehsil have four reservoirs, Bhatsa, Tansa, Modak Sagar and the Middle Vaitarna, which supply 2,960 million litres of water to Mumbai every day.
He added that they were not opposing the water supply to Mumbaikars per se. “We are highlighting our problems by asking that when there is water around us, why we are dying thirsty. We have to walk kilometres to fetch a bucket of water,” he said.
