Water Wars Rage on

Acute water shortage in Koregaon Park is becoming a major problem for the residents of the area.

Kumar Presidency-II hasn't been supplied a single drop of water by the civic body since the last two years, leaving the residents with no option but to resort to mineral water for drinking and domestic purposes. In spite of the harried residents registering several complaints with the water department at Ghorpadi, no measures have been taken to ease the predicament.
Kumar Presidency-II, established in 2006, experienced a hassle-free initial phase before water shortage came to the fore and became a crippling issue for the residents. Trouble kicked in only after the construction of the new buildings began. Currently, the members of the 44-flat-strong residential society have to depend on bore well water, which is leading to various side effects for the residents.
Rajiv Kapadia, secretary of the society, revealed, "We have been writing letters to the water department since the last one and a half year, yet have managed to receive zero response from the officials. We are suffering from multiple problems because of the use of bore well water. That apart, our electrical equipment like washing machines, geysers, cars, etc., are getting damaged due to the hard nature of the water. We are tired of writing letters now. We plan on resorting to RTI to get our grievances addressed."
Supporting the secretary's comment, chairman of the society, Amit Madaan, added, "We will approach the RTI authorities if the officials don't take our complaints seriously. If the corporation is not helping, we hope that at least the government will."
Hemant Lodha from the same society says, "We pay water taxes every year. I don't understand why our society has to cough up those funds if we are not getting a single drop of water. We are spending ten times more money buying mineral water. This is ridiculous!" Bina Tanpure, another resident, added, "The boring water was just an option for all the other utilities of the society; it cannot be the principal supply of water. We can't drink that water. In spite of putting water softeners in it, our plants continue to suffer from side effects of the bore well water."
Commenting on this issue, Rajendra Ardhapure, engineer, water department, Bundgarden, said, "Water blockage problems have been detected in the case of both the societies, Clover Dell A (the society highlighted in Cityplus' last issue) and Kumar Presidency II. I have asked the chairmen of these societies to have air valves installed so that the blocked water pressure is released. I have asked the chairmen to submit a fresh application for new pipeline work so that they can get a new connection. The Code of Conduct and budgetary limitations are preventing us from implementing the plans right away. Once the elections are over, we will solve this problem as soon as  we can."

--Jyoti Nalawade