Taps run dry at girl’s hostel, as tanker crisis hits Mumbai University

The central governmentrsquos guidelines enforced recently have made lives difficult for 75 students living at the girlrsquos hostel of Mumbai Universityrsquos Kalina campus They were already struggling in the absence of a water connection and now the tanker associationrsquos move to shut operations has hit them hardThe Mumbai Water Tanker Association MWTA shut down operations after the new order on February 9The students of the girlrsquos hostel were relying on water tankers arranged by the MU and with the tanker crises their supply stopped for a couple of days ldquoThe water supply through tankers was not regular on most days After operations were shut we got a tanker with 10000 litres of water on Saturday which lasted until Monday morning Since February 9 we have been buying water online paying from our pockets Nobody from the university has even visited us or inquired about how we are managingrdquo said a studentLater on Monday Yuva Sena senate members arranged a tanker with the help of the BMC said studentsYuva Sena senate members called a BMC tanker on Monday after students ran out of waterldquoThe situation was so bad that we had to go to other hostels and buildings on the campus to use the toilet On Monday Yuva Sena senate members visited us and gave us bottles of waterrdquo another student saidAlso Read Mumbai Taps run dry in posh Goregaon east colonyldquoThe hostel administration has sent a message on our WhatsApp group asking us to leave the hostel until the tanker crisis ends However there are students from Delhi Assam and Punjab in the hostel and not everyone has a guardian in the city Do they expect us to go back to our hometownsrdquo she askedmidday on September 13 2022 highlighted how the hostel buildings were not opened because there was no water connection The MU administration finally started calling water tankers in OctoberldquoThey have since maintained that students are receiving water while relying on tankers Now the tankers have stopped These students will endure hardships until the crisis is over This situation would not have existed if the university had a BMC water connectionrdquo said Pradeep Sawant former senate member from Yuva SenaldquoWith the help of former mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar we have submitted a request to the H East ward office for water connection to the hostel An arrangement for one tanker was made and the girls were given bottles of mineral water toordquo Sawant addedldquoWe understand the studentsrsquo situation We are trying to supply them with water from nearby buildings The process is underway to soon get a water connectionrdquo said an official from the Mumbai UniversityThe 1700 private tanker owners in the city supply water to where the BMC connection is missing or not working75No of girls living in the Kalina hostel9 FebDay tanker owners shut down operations