No water for the city’s parched padas

No water for the city’s parched padas
Bang opposite the Balasaheb Trauma Centre in Jogeshwari lies Gate No.8 of the Special Reserve Police Force (SRPF) camp. Inside the gate, one can see well-maintained roads, new buildings and a boundary wall running all along the perimeter of the land under SRPF control. However, this same wall, broken in the middle, serves as a gateway into the completely different world of the adivasi padas of the city.

Nestled deep inside Mumbai’s Aarey Colony, 27 such adivasi padas make up the only indigenous pocket in this bustling metropolis. However, while the government is busy shifting IPL matches out of the state, about 300 families in the three worst-affected padas are left to survive on only 5,000 litres of muddy water per day, if they are lucky.

The adivasis of Kelti Pada one, Kelti Pada two (also known as Damu pada) and Chaphyacha pada — the three padas hit worst by the crisis — are forced to trek down a 1.5-km pathway every day to make the most of the unclean water being supplied to them through a 1-inch pipeline at erratic timings by the public works department (PWD).

According to Mohan Desai, a deputy engineer at PWD, the department supplies 5,000 litres for 46 families in Kelti Pada. However, this water is far from enough to meet the needs of all the residents.

Dada Khaire of Kelti Pada has five children. His youngest child is only a year old, so his wife has to stay back with him, while Khaire has to travel at least 10 kilometres every day to get just enough water for his family of seven. “The uphill climb is extremely tiring. It gets me breathless. Moreover, there is no fixed time for the water to come, so we have to stay in the vicinity of that one pipe and keep alert. I cannot even go to work for this reason,” he explained.

All the three padas fall under the jurisdiction of Force One — an elite counter-terrorism wing of Mumbai Police. However, according to the adivasis, Force One officials are shrugging off responsibility to supply water to them.

Frustrated with the indifference of the authorities, 34-year-old Rakesh Panekar said, “We can see the huge cement water tank constructed for the SRPF on the right. Yet we don’t get a single drop from there. Force One had promised to provide us with water through tankers, but we got it only for a few days. You can see one of their empty plastic tanks lying around somewhere. The toilets constructed by Force One have been rendered useless as well due to the lack of water. They are all choked up and so cannot be used.”

Amid accusations from the indigenous people that their natural sources of water were being blocked by Force One, Sanjay Saxena, Inspector General of Police, who heads the Force One unit, said, “We have not blocked any of the previous water sources of these padas. The case of these 27 padas is sub-judicial as a PIL filed against the state government is being heard by the Bombay High Court. So I cannot comment on it. The PIL covers pertinent issues including basic amenities like water and other rights.”

Shiv Sena Corporator, MLA and former mayor Sunil Prabhu blamed the BJP government for cutting off the adivasis from getting access to water. “The pipeline for the distribution of water is already approved in the BMC, and we want to give them (adivasis) a legal water connection, but the state agriculture minister Eknath Khadse has ordered against approving any pipeline in the adivasi pada areas of Aarey Colony, making these three padas suffer the most. This is inhuman and the Chief Minister should take note,” Prabhu told Mirror. Unused pipes seen lying idle in the area bore testimony for the same.

PWD’s Desai alleged, “The adivasis do not pay any water bill for the water we provide to them. Many tabelas (settlements) located downhill keep complaining that it is their water that is being supplied to the adivasis. There are complaints that these people cut off the water supply to the adivasis sometimes.”

Objecting to this excuse, Vitthal Lad, founder of Shramik Mukti Andolan, said, “The adivasis have to protest at least four or five times every month to get the water from PWD. Around 300 families of these three padas depend on them. I know it is difficult to supply water to them topographically, but if a train could be sent to Latur, then why can’t a pipeline be sent to the adivasis living in Mumbai?” Nirmala Patkar, an activist and a resident, said, “Let the government put water meters and we will pay the water bills. Vegetables and grains can be stored but water cannot. Without water, it is a struggle every day.”

But while the blame-game continues, even children as young as three years old in these three padas have their duties cut out — to fill as many bottles of water as they can.

Patkar also refuted claims that taps built during Ravindra Waikar’s time as minister have been stolen, thereby making it difficult to make water available to them. “The taps are here but we haven’t received a single drop of water from them.”

And for anybody who contests their claims that the little water they get is contaminated, Panekar, Patkar and all the others have extended an open invitation to the Chief Minister or whoever else is interested to come and sample the muddy reality of the water they get. Yet the adivasis keep hoping for the best.

Mirroring their thoughts, Maru Wangad said, “We keep hoping that one day we will see water coming from the unused taps. I have four generations of my family living here and I hope that one day, they will see clean water coming from these taps.”