1 week Ago By Mid-day
Members of the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA) met Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil on Friday at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to discuss their concerns over recent notices issued by the civic body to private borewell owners. These notices instruct borewell operators to cease supplying water to tankers unless they acquire fresh licences from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).The water tankers have been on an indefinite strike since Thursday over the issue.
While the association has not yet declared to call off the strike, a solution is being sought by the Union Minister, giving hope that the deadlock between MWTA and the Mumbai civic body might end. The association will be holding a general body meeting to take a decision on the issue."A good solution has been found by Union Jal Shakti Minister Chandrakant Patil regarding the demands made by the water tanker association.
Senior officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were also present at the recent meeting," said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Pravin Darekar. Patil informed that the Ministry of Jal Shakti has now arranged for instant permissions (NOC) through an app — if an application is submitted for the required NOC, it will be approved promptly."It has also been decided that work will not be halted even if an NOC hasn`t yet been issued — once the application is submitted and an undertaking is given, operations can continue.
The tanker owners can obtain the actual NOC later when convenient. The matter was specifically related to housing societies in Mumbai — if a society wants to dig a borewell, it is for the benefit of the residents there. Due to the complicated NOC process, residents often did not get water when needed.
Going forward, such problems will not arise," said Darekar. He also mentioned that though there are no offices of Jal Shakti in Mumbai, NOC can still be obtained via the app.After meeting the Union Minister, the association will conduct a general body meeting and take a decision.
"Right now, CGWA and BMC`s PCO department are sending constant notices stating that legal action will be taken against the water tanker providers if permissions are not taken from them to do the trade. Unless this stops, we will not call off the strike," said Jasbir Singh, Vice-President, MWTA..
