15 January,2011 07:09 AM IST | | Rinkita Gurav
Say laundrymen across city, already suffering because of water cuts, and now doubly troubled as customers complain of stained clothes
The current water cut has small laundry shops in the city losing business. And the coloured water has them answering to irate customers.
Though most are sailing through the cuts by storing water and cutting down on orders, there is little they can do about complaints from residents of yellow stains on the clothes.u00a0 The tinged water many areas in the city have been receiving for a week now is bad news for them.
Talking about the dwindling number of customers, Amish Bhavsar who runs his laundry business from Santacruz to Kandivli, said, "We are rejecting most orders for washing clothes because of the water cut. The laundrymen who only wash clothes have been affected the most. We told our customers to send in their clothes after 3-4 days," added Bhavsar.
In south Mumbai, laundries handled the situation by ordering 10,000-litre water tankers. Raman Mehra of Dry Zone in Marine Lines, said, "Dry cleaners do not require much water for cleaning clothes, but they do for cooling the machinery. For this purpose we had ordered water tankers."
Though Mehra doesn't need water for washing clothes, others, who are not dry cleaners, cannot order tankers.
"We cannot order tanker water. It is hard and doesn't froth at all. It cannot be used for washing clothes. We take less and light clothes for washing during such times," said Raj Kanodia of Kamal Power Laundry in Bandra. He further added that after this water cut, he has begun keeping a tab on the amount of water used by his workers.
Bad business
As profits ebbed after they docked orders in the past week, laundry owners saw matters are being aggravated by the yellow water.
The owner of Altamount Laundry in Peddar Road said, "Although we didn't face water shortage, the water that is coming in is yellowish and it affects the clothes. At our laundry, we use chemicals to purify it to avoid damaging clothes."
Brace for cuts
Andheri and Jogeshwari would experience water cuts as the BMC will be taking up repair work on the 6.5-km water tunnel from Veravali to Adarsh Nagar up to Yari Road.
The work to install a vital valve in the tunnel, which runs along Mahakali Caves Road in Jogeshwari to the shaft on Link Road at Andheri, and up to Yari Road, will start next month.
This would allow for an increased water supply in the suburbs after the work is completed.
