Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora met Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Monday to express concern over the water tanker mafia and the slow progress of cleaning of nullahs.
As monsoon approaches, parties rush to monitor the progress of desilting work across the city. BJP’s city chief Ashish Shelar had visited some sites after the polling ended. NCP leader Sachin Ahir also checked the pace of work at some sites.
On Monday, Mr. Deora was joined by Congress MLAs Naseem Khan, Amin Patel, and leader of opposition in the BMC, Ravi Raja, at his meeting with Mr. Pardeshi.
“Tanker mafia is rampant, so much so that Mr. Khan has filed FIRs against illegal tanker operators in his constituency. Many of these tankers are the ones that supply water to large housing societies. Theft of water is the biggest reason for the scarcity and it is happening under the BMC’s eyes,” Mr. Deora told reporters after the meeting.
The Congress leader said water cuts, failure of the 24×7 water supply project, leakages in pipelines, and contamination are plaguing the BMC’s water supply network.
Mr. Deora also came down on the civic body for poor pace of desilting and road repair works.
“The administration needs to look into these issues, failing which the Mumbai Congress will resort to agitation. The commissioner has assured us to look into these problems.”
He said, “We don’t want to do politics but Mumbaikars don’t have basic amenities. These are serious concerns. The Congress is committed to housing issues in the city.”
Exit polls
Asked about the exit polls that came out on Sunday evening, Mr. Deora said, “Having contested four elections, I have never commented on exit polls. The agencies giving these polls can’t vouch for them. I don’t believe in their methodology.”
He said, “Exit polls are a science. In Australia, the PM was slated to lose but he actually won. Why speculate when we can wait till May 23.”
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