Kalyan, Dombivli to face 24-hour water cut once a week
The civic body will start the water cut from Monday noon to Tuesday midnight each week, while MIDC have announced it from Thursday 12am to Friday 12am every week.
From next week onwards, the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will impose 24-hour water cuts once a week in the Kalyan and Dombivli.
The civic body will start the water cut from Monday noon to Tuesday midnight each week, while MIDC have announced it from Thursday 12am to Friday 12am every week.
“As per the guidelines given by the Thane irrigation department, in order to store water in the Ulhas river for the year, we have declared a 24-hour shutdown. All our four water treatment plants will be shut during this period. We request the residents to cooperate with us,” said Prasad Thakur, assistant public relations officer, KDMC.
This announcement has raised concerns among the residents of 27 villages that have been facing water crisis for several years. Most of these villages are dependent on water tankers daily.
The villages, which were earlier a part of the gram panchayat, were included in the jurisdiction of KDMC in June 2015. Currently, the MIDC provides water to KDMC for these villages. In many parts of the 27 villages, the water is supplied with low pressure.
“We are facing water shortage and if there is a water cut, it will affect us more. Sometimes, we receive water only twice a week. If there will be a 24-hour water cut, the authorities should at least make provisions to provide water for the other six days,” said Sushma Patil, 35, a resident of Pisavli village, Kalyan.
The 27 villages were the most affected regions in Maharashtra in 2016.
The villagers have protested against poor water supply several times.
Last month, the residents of Pisavli village took to the streets and thronged KDMC headquarters to protest against the water supply shortage in their area.
Raju Nalawade, a resident of Ajade village, Dombivli MIDC said, “There are several cases of water pipeline leakages and water thefts which the authorities have been neglecting. What is the point in just declaring a water cut and saving water when they are not acting against the thefts and leakages?”