MIDC's mainline tampered with, water supply hit in many areas

NAVI MUMBAI: Residents falling under

Panvel

civic jurisdiction have been facing water problems in the are due to tampering of the main pipeline.

The

MIDC

's main pipeline, which supplies water from

Patalganga

river through Bhokarpada treatment plant, has been tampered with by miscreants. This has been taking place in broad daylight, complain locals. Due to this, the pressure of the water supply has been low in many areas.

The line supplies water to parts of

PCMC

areas and industrial units, Kalamboli wholesale steel market, along Old Mumbai-Pune highway. Residents allege that truck drivers and helpers from the steel yard are responsible for this problem. Slum dwellers, too, make the most of the leakage spots.

There are four to five leakage spots along the market area that have not been plugged for since the last couple of days.

"While we are facing a tough time in getting water daily, thousands of litres of drinking water is being wasted. The pilferage areas must be plugged immediately to improve water supply," said a Panvel resident Sanket Pal.

MIDC executive engineer

Prakash Chavan

said, "We are aware of this problem. We have written several letters to the steel market yard committee to provide water to vehicle operators through legal connections from our line. But we haven't received any response yet."

This mainline caters to the needs of lakhs of residents in

Old Panvel

township, besides some grampanchayats that come under PCMC and the industrial units in Panvel.

Residents have complained that a huge amount of water is going down the drain and the authorities are doing little to prevent this problem. "We get water every alternate day from MJP and MIDC sources, while the truck operators and slum dwellers are enjoying free water in abundance round the clock," said a resident Kishore Raut.

Residents have alleged that MIDC officials have been unable to check the theft and tampering in the main line due to lack of surveillance mechanism and indifference. The same areas were targeted by miscreants in the past to steal drinking water, they said.

Meanwhile, MIDC deputy engineer C N Patil said, "We have plugged the leakage more than once but the miscreants continue to loosen the joint valves and tamper with the pipelines. We will take up the repairing work again."