Daylong water tanker strike spells nightmare for housing societies in Undri, Mohammadwadi & NIBM Road areas

Pune: Thousands of residents in sprawling housing societies of Undri, Mohammadwadi and NIBM Road were in for a nightmare on Wednesday after water tankers stopped their movements to stage a strike, depriving citizens of a vital resource in the absence of proper civic supply.Residents were further alarmed that till late evening hours, there was no formal intimation on whether the stir would continue indefinitely. However, tanker operators finally ended the strike later in the night after a meeting with the mayor and police, wherein it was decided that a 15-day period would be given for the operators to implement some norms.The entire day, however, was a lesson in helplessness for residents of these areas. Sunil Koloti, a resident of the Undri-based Nyati Wind Chimes, which has 200 flats and around 2,500 residents, said they were forced to skip bathing amid the sweltering summer heat. "Only treated water was available for toilet flushes. Other than that, there was no water, even for cooking or cleaning. I had to buy big jars of mineral water to meet daily needs. Our society needs 15-16 tankers daily, so things were difficult," he told TOI.Ashok Mehandale, a resident of Raheja Reserve Premier on NIBM Annexe Road, alluded to two recent deaths of residents involving water tankers. "We feared this issue would escalate after the twin accidents and subsequent protests. Our society consists of four buildings with 672 flats and over 3,000 residents. We have a big water storage facility and since a couple of days, we have been rationing water use. On Wednesday, we got water supply from the reserve from 7-11am," he said.The area was rocked by two back-to-back fatal accidents, one on April 5 and the other on April 7, caused by speeding tankers, leading to the death of Aariz Shaikh (19) and Gracia Daniel Isa (22), respectively. Thereafter, last Sunday, local corporator Kashif Sayyed caught a tanker driver inebriated on the job. Residents' anger boiled over and groups of people had taken to standing at various chowks on known tanker routes a day later, confronting drivers to check if they are drunk and driving responsibly.On Tuesday, tanker operators claimed they were being "unnecessarily targeted" and heavily fined by the police under the pretext of their vehicles not having a helper, leading to the strike.Commercial establishments also faced the heat. Sachin Malik, CEO of Dorabjee Estates, which operates the Royal Heritage Mall, said they even planned a closure from Thursday onwards. "We have restaurants, a movie theatre, and more in the mall. We need an average of 10 tankers each day and Wednesday was a disaster. We contacted Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), asking for urgent help," he said.Scores of residential complexes were badly affected. The manager of Dorabjee Paradise, which has around 130 flats, said they made frantic calls to tanker operators for water. Choosing anonymity, he shared. "We need 7-8 tankers daily and conditions are difficult now. We briefly had water in our taps in the morning but it ran out fast. The operators simply said there is a strike on."In Mohammadwadi, Sadik Khan from Ganga Florentina said their complex, which has over 240 flats, depends on 4-5 tankers daily. "There was no prior intimation from tanker operators about stopping supply," he pointed out.Similarly, Prabhakar Singh, chairman of Shakuntala Kanade Park in Undri, said, "We had no clue there was a strike. One tanker operator lives in our society and he too couldn't provide vehicles due to the strike. Each and every resident bore the brunt. We were forced to buy mineral water for daily use. We didn't even know how to arrange for water for 100 families," he told TOI.Prakash Chowdhary, a grocery shop owner on NIBM Road, said, "Since Tuesday, the demand for 20litre water bottles surged so much that we completely ran out of stock. Even our suppliers were unable to deliver as everything was sold out."Mohsin Khan, secretary of Ganga Arena in Kadnagar, Undri, said residents have been urged to conserve water. "Although PMC supplies water, it is only for an hour between 12am and 1am, mainly for drinking purposes. For all other needs, we rely on tankers and require 10-12 daily," he said.Asif Shaikh, a resident of Elina Living in Mohammadwadi, said their daily requirement stands at 30-31 tankers, none of which had arrived since Tuesday evening. "Fortunately, our tanks were filled fully on Tuesday, so we had enough water possibly till Thursday morning. If the strike would have been extended, we would have faced a shortage," he added.Corporator Sayyed, who had caught an inebriated tanker driver on Sunday, said he had been assured by PMC that water would reach the three overhead tanks in the NIBM Annexe Road area within a month. "As far as the strike goes, operators suddenly declared it without intimation. They should have informed in advance. This action looked like blackmail," he said.On Tuesday afternoon, a letter from tanker operators was circulated addressed to the PMC commissioner, Pune police commissioner and district collector. In it, tanker operators claimed they are being targeted, adding that the fitness centre of Pune regional transport office (RTO) has been closed for over two months, owing to which the tests are not happening. They demanded that action against them be stopped until the centre opened, adding that they should not be branded as "tanker mafia". Operators also said they had already approached the police in this matter, but had not received a conclusive response.By Wednesday evening, talks in the matter came through and the operators ended their indefinite strike after a meeting with Pune mayor Manjusha Nagpure. "We met the mayor, who talked to additional commissioner of police Manoj Patil. We have been told that for the next 15 days, no action will be taken against us. In the meantime, we have to install 360° CCTV cameras in all tankers. With the police agreeing to our demands, we are ending the strike and water supply will resume immediately," tanker operator Sushant Lonkar confirmed.Additional commissioner of police Manoj Patil confirmed, "Tanker operators have been asked to set up 360° CCTV cameras in all vehicles and also dash cameras, which don't cost much."In an earlier discussion, builders who have developed large-scale residential complexes across these areas had asserted that the onus to supply water to housing societies was on PMC. TOI contacted Pune chapters of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai) and the National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco). While the latter could not be reached, Credai representatives said they did not wish to comment on the issue.