Cidco: Water is not a basic right for planning agency whose sole aim is profiteering
Navi Mumbai, September 20, 2021: Cidco as the names suggests is the authority established to develop city and industrial areas, recently, it has bombarded most of the social media platforms with advertisements to lease out it’s plots in Kharghar and some other nodes in Navi Mumbai.
This leasing out of plots is at the cost of the
Kharghar node facing a severe water scarcity and residents of most of the
housing societies barely receiving water for a couple of hours in a day. It is
very shameful for the planning agency and it’s top brass that they cannot
ensure even basic level of water supply to its residents.
Recently, I went through an article published in a
leading daily, which credited Cidco for building world class infrastructure in
Navi Mumbai. What is the use of this infrastructure if people are not going to
get water supply? I know housing societies in Kharghar, which have entered into
yearly agreements with water tanker suppliers and shelling out as much as Rs
3.50 lakh yearly for supply of water through tankers.
The members of this housing complexes are the ones,
who have already put in amount in crores to purchase a flat and despite putting
in such an exorbitant price are shelling out money on lakhs every month to
getting water supplied through tankers.
The tanker water is not only a health hazard, but is
also destroying household gadgets like water purifiers and washing machines. So
basically, the residents are at loss from all the sides.
I have a question for Mr Managing Director of Cidco,
will he and his family continue to stay in such horrible conditions? The answer
is a certain NO. If you are taking credit for carrying out infra projects in
Kharghar (the works which were already planned and commenced by earlier MDs),
you should also have the courage to accept the gross failure for not able to
supply water to the residents and come out with some explanation.
It is teri bhi chup meri bhi chup in
Cidco
The issue of water scarcity in Kharghar has been
brought to the notice of Cidco officials every now and then by various resident
organizations in the node and also by the members of housing societies, who
organized agitations, but the Cidco officials in the water department turned a
deaf ear to the peoples’ demands.
I too took up the matter with various officials from
time to time and as a last resort on March 9, 2021, I filed a complaint with
the Vigilance department of Cidco regarding corruption taking place in the
water department in Kharghar.
I had provided all the necessary documents and
evidences in support of the allegations and demanded a thorough inquiry against
the assistant engineer of water supply in Kharghar, who was acting through his
conduit a Cidco contractor named Pradhan and also in nexus with the tanker
mafia in the area.
Now, the modus operandi of the engineer and Pradhan
was very simple – release water with low pressure so that the housing societies
do not get enough supply and are dependent on them for water tankers, which are
supplied at the rate of Rs2,500 to Rs3,000 per tanker of which 50% amount is
shared with the officials.
The second way in which the engineer and his man
shaped corruption was when housing societies complained of low pressure, they
used to tell the managing committee of such societies to get the water pipeline
work done for enhanced pressure. Thereafter the contractor Pradhan would carry
out the work through his men and charge societies a steep bill of Rs 2 lakh to
Rs 2.5 lakh and over and above the bill took Rs 50,000 from the housing
societies to be paid under table to the engineer.
The managing committee of the housing societies, which
were already under fire from the members for lack of water supply, had no
option but to fall to the assurances given by Pradhan and the engineer (Pls
note that the engineer never came to interact with the members in housing
societies, but would suggest this option when members visited the Cidco office
in Kharghar). Thereafter, doing the
pipeline work, Pradhan, would ensure that the housing society receives water at
full pressure for at least a week (many housing societies in Kharghar have
fallen prey to this modus operandi of the water engineer and Pradhan) and after
a week or 15-days, the situation was back to square one for the society.
When the office bearers of the housing society
contacted Pradhan and demanded to know the reason for less water supply, he has
a trademark reply – “Sahab uppar se paani nahi aaya”. This is the way in
which the engineer is misusing his official position through his conduit and
taking the residents of the node for a ride.
However, the most unfortunate part is that despite
providing all the details to the Vigilance department, hardly any action is
taken. Lack of action against the engineer by the department which is expected
to act against him and keep a check on his corrupt practices is now firming up
my opinion that all the officials in Cidco right from the top bosses to lower
rung officials are hand-in-glove with each other and beneficiaries to the money
“extorted” from the residents for supplying water.
It should also be noted that I have also sent several
tweets to the present MD and shared every details with him, but it looks like
the official is just not interested in taking any corrective steps to provide
relief to the residents and it clearly exhibits the insensitive nature of
handling matters of basic necessity.
Let the residents know who is
speaking the truth
The only one thing Cidco is good at is PR activity and
nothing else. There is a lot which people can learn from the PR exercises which
Cidco carries out even though there is nothing commendable to talk of in
practical sense. Among one such PR activity was the release issued by the
planning authority around March, which mentioned that from April 1, supply to
the Kharghar node will be enhanced due to some micro tunneling work done from
the dam.
I would like to know what happened to that work. The
Cidco MD had taken the full credit for carrying out the micro-tunneling work
and claimed that the water supply to Kharghar node will be improved
significantly. What happened to those claims?
Whenever, we visit the water department in Kharghar
the engineer is prompt in his reply that we are not getting water supply from
the sources. Then what work was done wherein the MD claimed that supply has
been improved or is it that the engineers are also misleading the MD or the MD
is just ensuring some or the other kind of PR exercise to see his face published
in some daily.
I hope some one answers this question.
Water cut means more and more ‘malai’
for water department
A couple of days ago, Cidco came up with a new idea of
enforcing weekly shutdowns in the node of Kharghar, Ulwe, Dronagiri to improve
water supply in these areas. The press release issued by Cidco asked residents
to stock up water supplies due to shutdown.
The simple question is if Cidco is taking a shutdown,
then why is water not supplied with full pressure the previous night so that
the underground tanks of housing societies are filled to the full capacity and
this water can be used in a regulated manner for next couple of days during the
shutdown.
This is not being done at ground level – in case of
Kharghar (the assistant engineer and his person Pradhan) because if water is
supplied at full pressure and the water tanks are filled to the full capacity,
there will be no demand for water tankers and there will be no malai for
these people.
So, when the housing society members approach Cidco
for supply of water tankers to societies, the engineer’s men charge you a
premium and release tankers. So during water cuts, a tanker that was otherwise
available for Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 will cost you a whopping Rs 4,000 to Rs
4,500. The housing societies have no option but to shell out the money since
they are at the mercy of the engineer and men who regulate water supply in the
node.
Why is Cidco issuing NOC/CC to new
constructions
It is crystal clear that Cidco is grappling with what
should we say water crisis or water management or corruption in water
department and is not in a position to satisfy the basic need of the people,
who are already staying in the node (mind you Cidco is not even able to supply
675 litres per person/per day) then why is Cidco selling plots and constructing
mass housing schemes in the area.
Have the planners in Cidco failed to understand that
it is not only a house that a person needs to stay, but allied infrastructure
including water supply is extremely important. If the planning agency has not been able to tie up
necessary resources of water supply imagine the quality of life of the
residents staying the node.
Cidco should either first ensure proper water supply
and then construct homes or issue CC to new constructions.
I remember, a few years ago, the Bombay High Court had
granted stay on issuing of CC to new constructions on the Ghodbunder Road in
Thane as the Thane Municipal Corporation had failed to provide adequate water
supply to the buildings in the node.
I think a similar kind of PIL needs to be filed in the
Bombay High Court against Cidco.
Why shouldn’t Cidco pay tanker charges or provide
free tankers
Cidco is incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956,
and is a state owned company. Also, the agency is collecting services charges
from the housing societies in the area, which run into lakhs of rupees. As such
it is the duty of the Cidco to supply water to the residents, free of cost, in
the times of crisis.
However, the Cidco engineer has turned the crisis into
an opportunity and indulge in corrupt activities. I only hope the senior
officials in Cidco take note of this fact and atleast adopt corrective measures
now.
All problem began after construction
of Elevated Storage Reservoir (ESR)
I am a
resident of Kharghar since 2001 and never ever had faced water issues earlier,
perhaps because there was less population. Then around the year 2010 (I do not
remember correctly) came the idea of Elevated Storage Reservoir (ESR). The water
issues in Kharghar began mostly after the supply system was shifted to this
ESR, which were in fact supposedly built to improve water supply and also
ensure supply in the times of shutdown (this was told to me by Cidco engineer
at that time).
However,
ever since the supply was shifted to ESR, we are facing problems that have
compounded with years. There has been no concrete relief provided. The
residents in Kharghar are “buying”
temporary relief by shelling out or I would use the word “paying extortion”
money to engineer in Kharghar office to get water.
Do
not purchase property in Kharghar
In the end my only suggestion to those looking to buy
property in Kharghar is there is no point purchasing a property at sky rocket
price in Kharghar. The node grapples with severe water crisis and has major
infrastructure issues (will deal in another blog) despite being developed
around 20-years ago by Cidco.
There is no point in purchasing a flat for an amount
running into crores and then shelling out lakhs for tankers, who will supply
you recycled or bore water from MIDC in Taloja. Not only that you will also
have spend money on purchasing drinking water monthly. Most of my society
members rely on packaged water since the quality of tanker water is a health
hazard.
So I would suggest think twice before investing your
hard earned money in Kharghar. The areas under the Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation (NMMC) are certainly a better option and well managed.
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