Two months on, 200 Chembur families yet to get drinking water

Residents of PL Lokhande Marg in Chembur have been living in constant fear of falling ill due to water-related ailments, because they claim contaminated water is being supplied to several buildings in the area. They allege that despite repeated complaints, not much has been done by the civic body to address the issue.

According to residents, they have been receiving contaminated water for the last two months. Vishwanath Aroni, secretary of Shrinagar Society Complex, says that their complaints have fallen on deaf ears and over 200 families continue to receive contaminated water.

Residents allege that they began facing issues after a new sewage pipeline was laid down about four months ago. Aroni says, "While the new pipeline work was underway, the existing water pipelines of a few housing societies were damaged. And since then, they have been receiving contaminated water." He added that the new pipeline was also not laid properly due to which the water contains mud and other impure substances.

After complaining, BMC did little work like flushing out dirty water from some places, but that was not sufficient to make the supplied water free from contamination.

Residents say that BMC had assured them that the sewage line will be repaired, but they will not repair the water pipeline leading to housing societies. "The civic officials have asked us to repair the water pipeline on our own," said the resident adding that the pipeline was damaged due to the BMC's mistake. Assistant Municipal Commissioner of M west ward, Harshad Kale, said, "I am not aware of the issue."