NMMC announces 24-hr water supply shut down

Taps will run dry on Monday in Navi Mumbai due to works including those at Panvel-Karjat double railway line at Chikhale and the pipeline at Kalamboli under the Expressway bridge. Representation pic

Even as the summer sets in, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has announced a 24-hour water supply shutdown from Monday morning (April 10) in the city, which citizens have slammed.

A water supply cut without making alternative arrangements is troublesome for people, the NatConnect Foundation said in its missive to the NMMC Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar.

The NMMC executive engineer for water supply has notified people about the shutdown due to works on Panvel-Karjat double railway line at Chikhale, pipeline at Kalamboli under the Expressway bridge, water purification centre at Bhokarpada and maintenance of Morbe-Dighe pipeline.

Water supply will be stopped from 10 AM on Monday to 10 AM on Tuesday, the NMMC notice said. With this, areas from Dighe to Kamothe will go dry, NMMC cautioned.

NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said, "This is a bolt from the blue. People will be greatly inconvenienced. Even housing societies with storage facilities will be affected as the supply pressure is bound to be very low. The situation for a majority of people with no sumps or overhead tank facilities is going to be hellish."

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He wondered if water supply by tankers would manage part of the crisis since the NMMC storage will be adversely impacted. "As it is, the tanker mafia rules the roost during such crises and there is no guarantee they will not take undue advantage of the situation," Kumar said.

"As Monday and Tuesday are going to be working days after a long week-end starting from Good Friday, office-going people will suffer a lot," Vishnu Joshi of Parsik Greens said.

NatConnect also sought to draw the attention of urban planners to the fact that the NMMC draft development plan does not take into consideration the pressure that is going to arise due the massive multi-storeyed redevelopment and other housing and commercial projects under-construction.

"One shudders with the thought of future shocks as the city administration is unable to cope with the current population level," Kumar said.

10am-10am
When from Monday to Tuesday water supply will be shut