Why pipe repairs in Mumbai's western suburbs took so long to fix

After four days the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has finished repairing the large pipeline that supplies water to lakhs of residents in Andheri Vile Parle Santacruz Khar Ghatkopar and Kurla The supply of water resumed late on Monday evening but water pressure is expected to be low for at least a week Residents have demanded action against those responsible for damaging the pipeOn Thursday the 1800mmdiameter water line near Seepz Gate No 3 and Indian Oil Petrol Pump at Andheri East was damaged at multiple points while drilling work of the Metro 6 line was in progress After temporary repair work was carried out the BMC began fixing the line on Saturday morning and the work was expected to be completed by 830 am on Sunday However the work was completed by 1 pm on Monday The water supply to some spots was supposed to resume by 6 pm but Andheri and Khar were the first to receive water about an hour laterChallengesAccording to officials from the BMCrsquos hydraulic and special engineering department the pipeline runs about six meters below ground level ldquoThe recent construction work and land filling make the geological grip relatively loose so soil was sliding into the pit Water was being pumped out at the point of leakage The challenge was pumping out water from the pipeline and at the same time preventing landslides at the spot excavated for the repair workrdquo anofficial saidWorkers carry out repairs on the 1800mmdiameter pipeline at Andheri EastThe water line also was leaking at multiple spots and all these holes had to be closed after entering the empty water pipe However as removing all the water was impossible it was not possible to carry out repairs from the inside Therefore two manholes were created in the water channel for external repairs and thus the work was completed externallyTankers usedMeanwhile the civic body supplied water using its tankers which made 37 rounds as well as private ones which made 81 rounds in the affected areas The administration faced constraints in view of the time required to fill the tankers and reach the citizensldquoAfter the repair of the aqueduct is completed the process of filling the service reservoir will be started by creating sufficient water pressure in the aqueduct By filling up the service reservoir water will be supplied to K East K West H West N and L sections in the evening in a phased manner It may take some time for the water supply to start with adequate daily pressure Therefore citizens are kindly requested to exercise patiencerdquo a civic official told midday early on MondayIn some areas the BMC tankers made 69 rounds while private tankers made 177 But all proved inadequate as the affected areas were too largeNotice to be issued to contractorA civic official said ldquoThe priority was to complete the repair work on the weekend After the completion of leak repair work on Monday the process of issuing a notice to the contractor concerned will be initiated The total amount for damaging the water channel cost incurred by all the systems for repairs amount of wasted water and penalty as per rules will be calculated and the same will be recovered from the contractor concernedrdquolsquoWherersquos the accountabilityrsquoBharat Shah a Juhu resident said ldquoThe pipeline work was caused due to the contractorrsquos negligence Has anyone been penalised for the suffering of lakhs of residents for days Is there any accountability or punishment The BMC has to find the culprits which include its staff All Mumbaikars quietly suffered for days without water The BMC is supposed to provide water to the people as everyone is paying water taxrdquoMadhu Vannier secretary of Evershine Cosmic opposite Infinity Mall Andheri said ldquoWe received 50 per cent water on Thursday and Friday but since Saturday we havenrsquot received a drop of water We are paying R4800 for a single tankerrsquos water which is higher than a market price of around R3500 And of Monday even tanker water was not available People are waiting for the water supply to be restoredrdquoResidentsrsquo woesK P Singh a resident of Maladhari Compound in Andheri said ldquoTill now 9 pm on Monday the water supply hasnt resumed and we havent received any information from the BMC on when we will get water We havent received water since Friday and all the water in our small tanks has already been used up I managed to get two gallons of water from my office Our neighbours moved to their relatives as there isnt even bottled drinking water in nearby shopsrdquoPoonam Gurnani a resident of Gangotri Building in Khar West said her building which has 25 flats somehow managed till Sunday evening with whatever stock was available in the main tank and buckets in houses She said ldquoTankers are either not available or they are asking for an exorbitant amount like R10000 We bought bottled water for drinking but there is an issue regarding toilets as we do not have a bore well and cannot use nonpotable water in our regular tanks A few families managed to go to their relativesrsquo houses nearby but others were facing a terrible situation Our water timings are in the early morning We are hoping it will resume by Tuesday otherwise we cannot stay here anymorerdquoRaj Gupta a resident of Koldongri in Andheri East said residents received water on Saturday and managed to buy 20litre cans on Sunday morning He added that not a single municipal tanker came to their area ldquoResidents didnrsquot wash their clothes for two days and managed their kitchens with bottled water I had to go to a wholesale distributor in Vile Parle to buy bottled waterrdquo he saidThe Metro spokesperson did not reply to middayrsquos messages and calls by press time1pmTime on Monday when work was completed13No of dogs that have been found so far with acid wounds