Thane: Mumbra stages ‘shav yatra’ for water cut

Pic/Rajesh Gupta

Unable to bear the ongoing severe water crisis that has plagued the Mumbra-Kausa township for several days, residents sought to make their point with a novel protest on Saturday. Around 1,000 local citizens took to the streets in pouring rain, embarking on a "shav yatra" (funeral procession) to the Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) water department office, warning the authorities of consequences if their problems were not addressed.

"We have complained about lack of water supply so many times, but it seems the authorities are not asleep but dead - there is no one to hear us," said social activist Marziya Shanu Pathan, who led the protest. They were accompanied by leader of opposition in TMC, Ashraf Shanu Pathan. The protestors included men, women and children from the locality. They marched from Darul Falah masjid to the water supply office, where, upon finding the doors locked, they smashed pots in front of the entrance. Angry demonstrators tried to enter the office by climbing over the gate. However, the police stopped them.

Marziya warned the officials that if water supply is not restored by next Tuesday, the residents would march to the TMC headquarters on Wednesday. With stored water levels dropping worryingly low this year, it was decided that water supply would be cut by 10 per cent. "But where is the remaining 90 per cent going? There has been no water supply in Mumbra, Kausa area for the last 15 days. So citizens have had to call for tankers. Is there a nexus between the tanker mafia and the authorities? Or is Mumbra being treated differently due to its minority status?" questioned Marziya.

Vinod Pawar, head of TMC's water department, said, "There were some technical issues that led to a shutdown; all issues are now being resolved. I visited the site on Friday and found water supply is smooth now. We are trying our best. There was some problem with supply from June 6 to 10, but then it was restored again by June 19. After that, there were some issues for a few days again, but we have almost resolved the issue."