Water crisis in Thane: Only 26 wells cleaned in one month

The Thane Municipal Corporation had announced cleaning all the wells and make the water available for public.

But, the civic authority has managed to clean only 26 wells in the past one month. With the month of May already a few days away, the well water is still unavailable to the city hit by one of its worst water crisis.

The TMC though is still confident of cleaning all the remaining 186 wells by the first week of May. With over 60 hours water cuts in some parts of the city, the decision to use the water from the wells was taken in a meeting held on March 15. The cleaning was supposed to begin on April 1. It began a week ago as the tendering process was delayed.

A civic official, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media, said: “The cleaning work began one week ago and we have cleaned 26 wells so far. The work is going on a war footing and the residents can use all the 212 wells by the first week of May.”

With the increasing number of residential complexes, most wells were closed across the city. The usage of most wells was also stopped owing to which they were silted and littered. The corporation had allotted a budget of Rs1.70 crore to clean these wells, the tenders were floated wardwise.

The officer added, “We have cleaned two to three wells in every ward till now so that people from all the wards will equally benefit. As soon as the wells are cleaned people can start using them, we will later carry out the work of fitting pumps on these wells.”

If the TMC stays true to its words, residents can use the well water for a month till the monsoon.

PRAFUL GANGURDE A well at Azad Nagar in Thane is filled with garbage.