In opposition to the Central Ground Water Authority's (CGWA) order requiring licenses for groundwater extraction, the Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA) has declared plans to go on strike, reported Mid Day. According to the group, this action will interfere with important government infrastructure projects as well as business activities. The requirement to obtain a mandatory licence from CGWA is extremely difficult due to the stringent conditions imposed. They are thinking of starting a strike in protest of this ruling, said MWTA Secretary Rajesh Thakur.
Ankur Sharma, spokesperson for the association said they have started receiving notices from BMC ward offices and well owners since last week. Complying with the CGWA conditions is nearly impossible. For example, one condition requires 200 square meters of land around each well, along with the installation of a flow meter and a GPS tracking system. He asked where they would find such space in a densely populated city like Mumbai?
Mumbai has over 1,800 tankers that deliver non-potable water from borewells and wells, according to the association. The capacity of each tanker is 10,000 litres. Together, these tankers provide around 200 million litres of non-potable water per day. Sharma further said that they supply non-potable water to small commercial establishments as well as for major government infrastructure projects like road concretisation. This decision could definitely affect such development works. They have decided to begin an indefinite strike from April 10.
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has previously sent out notices of this kind. Similar notifications were sent out in 2023, but the state government's intervention caused them to be halted. According to BMC representatives, the CGWA's need for mandatory licensing was implemented in 2020 in an effort to reduce over-extraction of groundwater. Water tankers are currently drawing from between 800 and 1,000 groundwater sources located throughout the city.