Water crisis: War of words breaks out between govt and tanker body

Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha on Monday spoke to the Mumbai Water Tanker Association over the crisis in the city but it didnrsquot yield any result They later blamed each other for the situationLodha the guardian minister of Mumbai Suburban District held a meeting with the district collectors and BMC officials on Monday hours after middayrsquos report on the issue He also held a telephonic conversation with the MTWA to end the crisis However it did not resolve the issueThe private tanker owners stopped operations on February 9 after the state government enforced the central governmentrsquos guidelines released in 2020 Several areas in the city are struggling and many have sought the governmentrsquos interventionldquoThe sudden strike by the association is totally unacceptable Nobody should hold citizens hostage just to get their demands fulfilledrdquo said Lodha while talking with middayGuardian Minister suburban Mangal Prabhat Lodha will hold a meeting of all stakeholders at 10 am today File picPradeep DhivarldquoIf the association has any issues with the interim orders passed or has concerns about police action they can come to us The BMC and the police are just doing their job How can they make a demand to stop action that is in accordance with the lawrdquo asked LodhaHe will hold another meeting with all the stakeholders around 10 am on Tuesday ldquoI am hopeful that we will reach some solution and the misery of thousands will end soonrdquo he saidAlso read IN PHOTOS Water is essential to live but BMC is depriving us of itlsquoNot a strikersquoThe central government enacted a law against the commercial exploitation of groundwater well water in September 2020 Secretary of Mumbai Water Tanker Association MWTA Rajesh Thakur said ldquoThe Centre was trying to implement the law since last year but somehow it was neutralised as the state had a Thackerayled governmentrdquoThakur said that the water tankers are not on strike and claimed that the police have been clamping tankers ldquoWe have been armtwisted by the government into shutting our services which in turn has affected several lives in the cityrdquo he saidlsquoPolice action uncalled forrsquoldquoThe traffic police clamped the wheel of eight tankers and registered FIRs at Azad Maidan police station on January 23 We have learnt that instructions came from top civic officials The police took action against tankers for no reason On February 8 the traffic police clamped the wheels of nine other tankersrdquo Thakur addedmidday has learnt that three top revenue officials of the state government met the Mumbai police commissioner and the civic chief ldquoAnd after the meeting Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar issued a circular regarding taking penal action against water tankers for theft and mischief under the IPC and certain provisions of the Maharashtra Groundwater Act 2009rdquo said a sourceThe CGWA guidelines revolve around various aspects of extracting water from underground sources and its distribution Vice president of the MWTA Jeetu Bhai Shah said ldquoHow can we follow such strict guidelines We donrsquot work to be jailed for no reasonrdquoHe added ldquoThe problem has started Top hotels in the city do not have water How will international guests stay without water The trees and plants on the dividers on roads will die and the Pink Trumpet trees in Mulund will dry in a few days without water The crisis is looming large and the BMC has very few tankers to fulfil the demand We have learnt that they are using fire engines to supply waterrdquoThakur added ldquoWe are meeting Lodha in the second half of the day not at 10 am on Tuesday Thereafter we will meet with tanker association in Goregaon to decide whether the meetingrsquos outcome is fruitful for us to continue our businessrdquoFire brigade refutes claimMumbai Chief Fire Officer Sanjay Manjrekar said ldquoWe are using our water tankers only to douse fires and not for private use I am not aware of anyone using fire engines as water tankersrdquo