Maharashtra: Brimming dam, dry taps; Ulhasnagar’s new woe

Heavy rain in recent months may have filled reservoirs around Mumbai to the brim but it has not brought any respite to about one lakh residents from water cuts in Ulhasnagar The residents are so frustrated that thousands of them marched to the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation headquarters last week demanding a solution to the erratic and scant water supply to their homesThe satellite town of Mumbai receives water from the Barvi dam which started overflowing on August 11 raising the hope that Ulhasnagar will no longer see water cuts But it soon turned into anger when the situation remained unchangedAlso read Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation presents marigolds to staff arriving lateProtesters march to UMC headquarters on September 23Shubhangi Shingte who lives at Shri Ram Nagar said onefifth of the population is facing water scarcity due to the inefficiency of UMCrsquos water department ldquoWater supply was never an issue for us except for this year Before the monsoon they had announced cuts citing low water levels in the dam but for the last 7 months supply has been very erratic We donrsquot even know at what time water will come In our area we used to get water in the morning but now there is no fixed timerdquoThe Barvi dam with a storage capacity of 33884 million cubic metres supplies water to Ulhasnagar Ambernath Badlapur Kalyan Dombivali Thane MiraBhayander and the industrial estates in the Thane district With enough stock the entire district is getting sufficient water barring Ulhasnagar said localsOn September 23 former mayor Dhananjay Bodare led a massive march to UMC headquarters ldquoWe had met the newly appointed commissioner Aziz Sheikh in June 2022 He had assured us of having a permanent solution to the crisis but nothing has happened The irregularity and uncertainty in the water supply are disturbing the lives of around 1 lakh residents When our delegation met the commissioner he cited staff shortage and inefficiency of some engineers and assured them of filling the vacant postsrdquo said BodareThe politician said Sheikh also talked about poor electricity supply affecting water distributionldquoMore than 50 per cent of engineer posts are vacant in the water department The other staff is also not adequate which limits the functioning of the department and results in irregular supplyrdquo said a UMC official requesting anonymity ldquoA recruitment drive is needed to fill the posts not only in water but also in other departments as well The commissioner is following up with the government about itrdquoRajendra Choudhary Shiv Senarsquos Ulhasnagar city head said ldquoThe commissioner called officials of the water department and scolded them over the issue but he also confessed that the department is shortstaffed He assured us that the vacant posts will be filled and the issue will be resolved permanentlyrdquoJamir Lengrekar additional commissioner UMC said ldquoThere are several complaints about uneven distribution and lowpressure supply in the area but frequent power disconnection and technical glitches while water being supplied from MIDC is causing the trouble The irregular electric supply in MIDC or Ulhasnagar is the root cause of the issue There are also serious complaints that the engineers from the water department donrsquot pay attention to the grievances UMC commissioner has taken serious cognizance of this and will take action accordinglyrdquoLengrekar said they have raised the demand for an express feeder for streamlined electric supply which will help the water department work smoothly ldquoWe have resolved to start our water distribution scheme under Amrut 20 as a longterm planrdquoAreas hit by water crisisVasita Colony Shivnagar Colony Roma Tank Santosh Nagar Mahadeo Nagar Banjara Colony Geeta Colony Shri Ram Nagar Section 27 28 29 30 and 31 and Maratha Section