MUMBAI: The historic
Azad Maidan
which sees a "million mutinies" almost daily in the form of protests has just got a much-needed piyau or cold, filtered
water kiosk
. Police commissioner Sanjay Barave, in presence of many other police and civil officials, inaugurated the All India Memon Jamaat Federation-funded piyau at Azad Maidan on Tuesday.
"We saw that protesters who come from across the state to air their grievances at Azad Maidan remained thirsty for hours or drank substandard water. Most of them are poor and cannot afford to buy safe drinking water from nearby shops. We approached the
BMC
to allow us to install a piyau here and finally we did it," said All India Memon Jamaat Federation president Iqbal Memon Officer. He said that the piyau stores 20,000 litres of water which it spews after passing through a cooler and filter.
Barve appreciated the move saying that though the protesters who assemble at Azad Maidan come with many grievances, "they are after all our people". "Nobody thought of these protesters who are poor and desperately needed free drinking water. I am glad now the Memons have arranged for it," he said. Officer said that the plan to launch the piayu was originally for the World Memon Day (April 11) but it got delayed due to unavoidable reasons. TNN