Ashish Shelar has demanded an investigation into the 24×7 water scheme in Mumbai. (PTI File)
“One family has ruled the BMC for the past 25 years, but has not been able to give Mumbaiites enough drinking water, despite taxes being paid regularly,” said Ashish Shelar, demanding an investigation into the 24×7 water scheme
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Shelar on Wednesday sought in the Maharashtra Assembly a white paper on water distribution system of Mumbai, blaming the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) for not fulfilling the 24×7 water supply promise, despite ruling the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for more than two decades.
“One family has ruled the BMC for the past 25 years, but has not been able to give Mumbaiites enough drinking water, despite taxes being paid regularly,” said Shelar, demanding an investigation into the 24×7 water scheme.
In the Legislative Assembly, the ruling party proposed a motion thanking Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for the work done by the grand coalition government and dynamic development in cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur.
While presenting the proposal, Shelar drew the government’s attention to some unfulfilled expectations of Mumbaiites. “There is a huge shortage of drinking water in the city. The BMC has collected Rs 30,000 crore as tax over the past 25 years. But the family that ruled the BMC, who had their Mayor and Standing Committee Chairman couldn’t provide drinking water to Mumbaiites.”
“A 24-hour water supply scheme was implemented on a pilot basis in two wards — Mulund and Bandra West. For this, Rs 400 crore was paid only to the consultant, but the scheme has completely failed. The Shiv Sena UBT is responsible for this,” he claimed.
Currently, Mumbai’s water supply has been disrupted due to the fire at the ‘Pise’ water pumping station of the BMC. Many areas in Mumbai are facing a 15% water cut till the transformer of this pumping station is fixed. There could be further water cuts during summer as the water levels in BMC’s dams have gone down significantly compared to last year.
