HC asks civic body to test ‘quality of water’ at Mahul

Taking note of a series of complaints pertaining to the ‘quality of water’ being supplied to residents of Mahul, Chembur, the Bombay High Court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to test the water and submit its report at the earliest.

A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla said, “We have been getting this complaint in some matters. We think this is a serious issue and thus requires urgent attention of this court, especially when there are colleges and schools around the vicinity.”

“We want to know if the water supplied is contaminated. Let the BMC test the quality of water supplied to the buildings of the petitioners in Mahul and submit its rport,” Justice Oka added. The bench accordingly directed the civic body to submit its report on the quality of water supplied to six buildings at Mahul, by Tuesday, when the matter would be heard further.

The bench was seized with a writ petition filed by residents of Mahul through their advocate Vinod Sangivkar. According to Sangvikar, “My clients were initially residing near Vakola pipeline prior to January 2000. They were, however, granted accommodation at Mahul after the BMC issued an eviction notice upon them between August 2015 to November 2017.”

“My clients were being supplied with contaminated water. They were compelled to consume the contaminated water by the authorities, after which we moved the court,” Sangvikar added.

Villagers in Mahul have for a decade now been complaining of health issues caused by high air and water pollution levels and have been demanding the closure of two private factories. But tht didn’t stop the authorities from shifting more than 5,000 project affected people, who lost their houses to demolition, mostly around the Tansa pipeline, to Mahul. These project-affected people, too, have been complaining of pollution-related illnesses and have demanded they be shifted from the area.