No separate water connections for slum dwellers

The civic body will not provide individual water connections to slum dwellers, citing technical difficulties in the proposal. The formal announcement will be made in the standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

The civic body will not provide individual water connections to slum dwellers, citing technical difficulties in the proposal. The formal announcement will be made in the standing committee meeting on Wednesday.

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The notice of motion asking for individual water pipelines for slum dwellers was moved by the then corporator Vinod Shekhar in March 2006.

Six years later, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) administration has decided to decline the proposal.

“As per the BMC’s regulations, such connections can be given only to those slums that were set up before January 1, 1995. According to these, water connections can be given to five slum dwellers and not to an individual,” said a BMC official.

Shekhar said: “If they do not have a legal connection, they will either steal water or buy it. By denying the proposal, BMC will miss out on revenue as well.”

A civic official said: “It will be impossible to repair the pipelines once they are laid out.”