Use water wisely or lose connection Ex- corporators yet to return tablets

STRICT ACTION Panvel Municipal Council appoints mobile squads to check for wastage of water; violators will first get notice

If you waste a lot of water every day, you may lose your water supply. At a time when the state is reeling under water crisis, the Panvel Municipal Council ( PMC) has decided to come down heavily on those who waste water.

The water department of PMC has appointed mobile squads to check for water wastage. Those found guilty will find their supply disconnected.

The water department has appealed to housing societies and residents to curb wastage of water in their respective areas.

“Despite regular notices and warnings, if people do not take the requisite measures, we will stop their water supply to prevent wastage,” said an official,on condition of anonymity.

“The water department has set up special squads for the pur- pose. Apart from ensuring proper water supply in the region, the squad will also lookout for leakages and water wastage,” said a PMC official.

He said, “Those found guilty of wasting water will first be given warning and notice. If the wastage continues, the administration will not hesitate in disconnecting the water supply.”

The PMC has already stipulat- ed water rates on the basis of the size of water connections. The bills are collected accordingly.

In Panvel, consumers pay a fixed amount and then use as much water as they want. Several business entities pay domestic rates and use water for commercial purposes. There is no clarity on how much water is used after being sourced from Dehrang Dam, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran ( MJP) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation or what the actual requirement of the city is.

Since there is no proper water audit, the PMC spends crores on water supply.

Now, there is a proposal to supply water in Panvel through water metres. However, since the PMC’s finances are dipping, the proposal has been delayed.

“Currently, the water stock in the dam is low owing to inadequate rainfall last year. MJP has reduced its water supply. There is a possibility of a further cut in summer,” said the PMC official.

Even as Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation ( NMMC) is struggling to succeed in its plans to go paperless, former corporators are yet to return the tablets.

The tablets were issued to them during their tenure in the last house of the civic body.

The NMMC administration could suffer financial losses owing to this. During the 201015 tenure of NMMC, the then mayor Sagar Naik had proposed the idea of distributing tablets to corporators and officials.

Corporators and officials would get the agenda of the meetings on the tabs. A total of 122 people, including 89 corporators, were given tablets. A special application was developed to enable the corporators to read the agenda easily.

The administration had spent over Rs45 lakh on the project. However, the plan was not imple- mented. Meanwhile, civic elections were held in April last year.

It has been 11 months since the polls, but the former corporators have not returned the tablets.“The tablets have to be returned after the tenure ends. Some probably did not know to this and thought it was given to them for good,” said an NMMC official, requesting anonymity.

He said, “However, even the corporators who have been re-elected don’t seem to be using the tablets.”

Currently, of the previous body 49 corporators or their relatives are in the house. A total of 25 corporators have been reelected. The wives of 13 former corporators have been elected and husbands of nine former corporators have been elected. Two corporators are children of former corporators.

By the beginning of this week, 13 people had returned the tablets. Municipal commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said, “We are hopeful that all former corporators will return their tablets soon.”