Mumbai water tanker operators call off strike after BMC invokes Disaster Management Act

Mumbai water tanker operators call off strike after BMC invokes Disaster Management Act Newspoint | 15/04/2025 06:39:14

Mumbai, April 14 (IANS) A day after the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) invoked the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA) on Monday called off their four-day strike after a meeting with the city's civic body chief Bhushan Gagrani.

The association had started an indefinite strike after the BMC served notices to owners of private ring wells and borewells that supply water to the tankers.

During the talks, the municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani assured the Association that the notices will be revoked until the issue is dealt with by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).

The Disaster Management Act, 2005, empowered the BMC to requisition all the private water tankers and borewells in the city.

During the talks, which were held at the official residence of the municipal commissioner, although the administration assured support for the MWTA’s demands, it was also warned sternly against continuing the strike.

The strike had disrupted the water supply to the housing societies, industrial and commercial establishments, who rely on tankers to meet their daily need. Incidentally, the Association has over 1,700 registered tankers, with a capacity of up to 20,000 litres, supplying water to different parts of Mumbai.

MWTA spokesperson Ankur Sharma said that the state government has agreed to represent their demands to the Union ministry with regard to the guidelines drafted by the CGWA.

“All the cases that were registered against us by the BMC have also been withdrawn.

Therefore, we decided to call off the strike,” he added.

He further expressed difficulty in the implementation of all these rules in a city like Mumbai.

“Unless there are some relaxations in these conditions by the government, tanker services will not resume," he observed.

The Association Treasurer, Amol Mandhare, said that they have called off the strike, adding that they had no intention to hurt Mumbaikars, but they had no other option.

“We have put forward all our demands to the BMC Commissioner. He has assured us that resolve it with the Central government. We are also planning to go to Court over this, and all notices by the BMC will be taken back. The supply will be resumed immediately,” he said.

He said that the notices issued by the BMC had asked the owners of ring wells and borewells to either shut their facility or obtain an operational No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from CGWA for maintaining the wells.

He added that the notices also mandated the owners to apply for a fresh license from the CGWA in order to qualify as water supply agencies.

As per the CGWA guidelines, a licence would be issued to a well-owner only if the well is situated on a land parcel having a minimum size of 200 square metres. Besides, the guideline also limits the number of tankers that can fill water from a well to a single tanker. The new guidelines also mandate that every well operator needs to set up a flow meter to record the flow of water.

--IANS

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