Mumbai civic budget skips grand water project

The BMC had in November 2018 announced a 10 per cent water cut in the city. Rep Pic

Despite being a regular mention in the last few years' budget speeches, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's ambitious Rs 280 crore Water Distribution Improvement Project (WDIP) didn't find a mention this year. The ongoing water shortage in the city has been blamed for it.

The project was launched in 2013 with work taken up in the two pilot wards - H West and T. Having missed several deadlines to detect and repair leakages and manage water pressure in the area, the BMC's promise of 24X7 water supply is yet to be implemented in the two wards. Low water pressure in the areas was stated as one of the reasons behind it.

This year's budget, however, included Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of the water supply network, a small aspect of the WDIP. "Due to the 10 per cent water cut since November 2018, we are not focusing on the work for 24X7 water supply this year. We have to ensure that the current water stock lasts till the onset of monsoon," said a civic official. He added that the work on GIS mapping, however, has received an allocation.

The WDIP aims to cover 10 types of water services in all its 24 wards, including quality assurance and reporting, finding water solution for slum areas, customer survey and customer database, training and knowledge monitoring, network modelling, asset registration and customer relationship management.

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