Juhu building shares water with neighbours

For four hours in the morning and three hours in the evening on both days, residents of Sagar Sameep distributed water from the borewell in their compound to others in the area, largely slum dwellers from Shivaji Nagar, Indira Nagar and Gautam Nagar

Mumbai: On Monday and Tuesday, when much of the western suburbs was in the throes of a water crisis owing to damage to the water pipeline in Andheri east, the residents of Sagar Sameep building in Juhu transformed into saviours. For four hours in the morning and three hours in the evening on both days, they distributed water from the borewell in their compound to others in the area, largely slum dwellers from Shivaji Nagar, Indira Nagar and Gautam Nagar.

Juhu building shares water with neighbours

“We got a trickle of water on Saturday, none on Sunday, and then utterly dirty water on Monday. The building really saved our day, and a lot of us went to take water from them,” said Komal Dhavade, a slum dweller.

“We did whatever little we could do,” said Tilak Shetty, an 80-year-old man who supervised the water distribution and made sure no one jumped the queue. “From 7am to 11am, and 4pm to 7pm, people kept coming with buckets, bottles and even paint cans. We’d switched off our society’s connection to the borewell for that time,” said Shetty. The borewell is supplies water to bathrooms in Sagar Sameep, which comprises two grounds plus two storied buildings.

On Tuesday, residents of the building also distributing sweet (drinking) water to a few families. “One lady came to me and said she had no water to cook food. I couldn’t refuse her,” said Shetty.

Neeraj, the watchman of the building, took care of operating the motor on both days, which earned him a lot of appreciation. “I didn’t have much to do except ensure that the motor didn’t overheat. It’s also nice that the residents do this for the people around every now and then,” he said.

Six months earlier too, during a period of water crisis, residents had distributed water to neighbours. This time, one of the slum dwellers requested for water, which the residents obliged with happily.

“We share a wall with the slums, and domestic workers who work in our houses stay there. Their plight was just as much as ours,” said a resident of the building who did not wish to be named.

This spirit of mutual cooperation between residents of the building and slum dwellers was not affected by the former’s gripes regarding growing population in the slums. “Humanitarian principles have to prevail,” said Samir Mangalorkar, a resident of the building who complained about illegal construction in the area in the past. “We’re only making up for the shortfall of the civic body.”