Even posh Mumbai localities can’t escape water crisis

The statewide drought has left city dwellers with an acute water scarcity.

But unlike previous years, where the city’s posh locales were ‘immune’ from water crisis, even the city’s rich and famous couldn’t escape water woes this time around. From Carmichael road to Cuffe Parade, all up-market areas are now reliant on tankers to meet their daily water requirements.

Residents of Usha Kiran at Carmichael road, one of India’s first skyscrapers, have been calling for two to four tankers a day since the municipal corporation started implementing water cuts.

Planet Godrej at Jacob Circle, where Abhishek Bachchan owns a duplex, the 1.40 lakh kilo litres supplied by the Corporation isn’t enough to meet the daily consumption of 2.60 lakh kilo litres. Hence, the 400 high-end apartment complex is spending about four to six lakhs monthly on tankers.

But, the most tanker-dependant patch is also the city’s richest pocket- Cuffe Parade. Jolly Maker I, a complex along the belt, calls in 20-25 tanker a day for its 184 residents and spends about Rs 2.50 lakh a month on them. At Maker Tower A & B, the water shortage results in the usage of 400 tankers a month at a cost of Rs 24 lakh a year.

While the water scarcity has affected everyone from affluent industrialists to slum dwellers, the snag of the affluent few is minuscule compared to that of the rest of the population.