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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: March 7: Residents of Panvel came on roads yesterday as the water charges have been increased by the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently. Thousands of residents assembled near the Shivaju Chowk at Old Panvel, along with Shatkari Kamgar Pakshe (SKP), BJP and Shiv Sena (SS) volunteers here. Women volunteers were holding the empty mud pots on their head as a symbol of a reduced amount of water supply.

The morcha was called as "Handi Morcha", and was held on Tuesday morning. Mrs Bhagat, a resident of old Panvel said, "Earlier we used to get water two times a day, now the condition is we get water once in two days. It creates a lot of problems, how much drinking water can we store and also it is summer now." The morcha was headed by Vivek Patil, MLA SKP party, who said that if the supply of water is not increased and if the charges are not reduced they will strengthen the agitation. Later all the women carrying the mud pots on their heads broke them in front of the PMC building.

When the police stopped the ladies, there was a argument between the police and the volunteers, creating tension in the area, for some time. Arif Patil, Ex- Dy.Chief of PMC said that the ruling party congress is creating problems for the common man, even after the increase in water level, they are increasing the water charges. On this the Congress party said that the cleaning work of Gadeshwar dam is going on and new pipeline work is also in progress. They assured that in a few days all areas under PMC would get sufficient water.



Kartiki Shastry