Due to a severe water constraint, housing societies in the quickly expanding neighbourhood of Kharghar have demanded that the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) cease granting commencement and occupation permits for new construction.
In a letter to CIDCO on March 28, the Kharghar Cooperative Housing Societies Federation—which is the representative of 505 housing societies—described the problem. According to the letter, residents of 125 communities were being forced to rely on water tankers due to water outages ranging from 30 to 50%. They cautioned that approving more projects without securing alternate water sources will make the situation worse.
“Our society has been facing a 30% water cut for a long time. It worsens during festivals, and we have no choice but to depend on water tankers,” said Amit Kumar, secretary of Arihant Krupa housing society in Sector 27, Kharghar.
Kumar pointed out that 200 high-rise buildings, each 40-50 storeys tall, were already under construction, while CIDCO continued selling land to developers without addressing water supply concerns. “There is no clarity on where these new projects will get water from, but our supply will certainly decrease further once they are completed,” he added.
According to conversations with water supply officials, Kharghar and Taloja need 100 million litres per day (MLD), but the current supply is just 82 MLD, resulting in an 18 MLD gap, said SH Kalawat, general secretary of the housing societies’ federation.
“The crisis will intensify as CIDCO has built 25,000 homes under its affordable housing scheme, and the demand for water will increase by another 5 MLD once Navi Mumbai Airport becomes operational,” he warned. He also criticised the lack of new dam projects to improve water availability.
The federation now plans to meet CIDCO’s managing director to push for a halt on new project approvals. “If needed, we will escalate our demands to the state and central government. Residents and housing societies are prepared to protest in large numbers,” Kalawat asserted. CIDCO has yet to respond to the concerns raised.
Source: Hindustan Times
