Maharashtra’s environment minister Aaditya Thackeray gave a dreamy promise to Mumbaikar ahead of elections; that every citizen in Mumbai should have access to drinking water through formal sources. Every resident of Mumbai including those living in slums or buildings without an Occupation Certificate (OC) will have access to drinking water from May 1, this would not change the legal status of a house, but will enable the residents of slums or buildings which lack OC to get water connection. Thackeray’s party, the Shiv Sena, controls the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the elections for which are due this year.
Aditya Thackeray said, “We are committed to ensuring a right to life with dignity to every citizen by providing access to drinking water. This will also eradicate the illegal connections that disrupt and pollute our water supply,” he added. Thackeray had conducted a special meeting about the “water for all policies” at the BMC headquarters with civic officials earlier.
Vijay Salgaonkar, a working man, said, “Mangroves should be removed. People from Mira Road are facing problems coming to Dahisar as there are mangroves in between. They have to pay “Toll Tax” at “Dahisar Check Naka” to come to Dahisar, which is just one stop. This is ridiculous. The government should at least remove the mangroves between “Mira Road and Dahisar” and construct roads over there. Water promises are just to grab votes; most of our areas do not have a basic water line.”
A 76 year physically disabled man told AV, “I had a water connection for the past 20 years and from August 2021 I am not getting water. I paid taxes up to date and went to BMC; they said the water connection is damaged. I followed all their instructions regarding the repair work and paid for the repair work. I have all the legal documents from the BMC. They asked me to go to the commissioner’s office in VT during this pandemic. I am running pins to poll for the past two years, but my water connection is yet to be repaired. And now the minister is making a promise?”
When a senior citizen handicapped is crying for an old connection for 6 to 7 months. Aaditya Thackeray should check with BMC how many people are suffering from BMC not giving water. Shiv Sena controlled BMC for so many years, but till now they were sleeping and didn’t care if people got water or not. The environment minister should also see that there is an urgent need for a desalination plant for the future of Mumbai. What if there is insufficient rainfall because of Global Warming it’ll be very useful for the residents of Mumbai?
