Right to regular drinking water a fundamental right: Bombay HC

Mumbai: Right to have regular drinking water is a fundamental right, the Bombay High Court remarked on Wednesday. And it's too unfortunate to watch people suffer for their basic need and knock on doors even after 75 years of independence to get water supply, the HC slammed.

The court was hearing a petition filed by residents of Kambe village in Bhiwandi town of neighbouring Thane district. A division bench of Justices SJ Kathavalla and Milind Jadhav made these strong remarks when they found the petitioners get water supply twice a month only and that too for about two hours.

The petitioners contended that they were seeking a proposal to provide daily drinking water to STEM Water Distribution and Infra Company, a joint venture of Thane Zilla Parishad and Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipality.

Bousaheb Dangde, the managing director of STEM, told the court that water was being supplied on a daily basis but only at a certain stage. They also claimed that it was the responsibility of the Gram Panchayat to supply water from that place to the houses of the petitioners.

Dangde said the demand for water in the village has increased due to the increase in population in the village over the last few years. Therefore, the system should be upgraded.

The court asked what the petitioners should do until the system is upgraded. The court also enquired about the steps taken by the company to resolve these issues.

"Don't force us to say that the Maharashtra government has failed to provide water to its citizens. We refuse to accept that the state government is so helpless. We will not shy away from calling the highest functionary of the state government," the bench added.

The plaintiffs alleged that the STEM company was supplying water illegally to local politicians and tanker lobbies and had installed more than 300 illegal water connections and valves in the main pipeline.

Finding that Dangde does not want to fix the problem, Justice Kathawalla asked the company to clear off the illegal connections, so that petitioners can have enough water for their needs.

Dangde said more than 150 people would protest if the illegal connections were removed.

The High Court adjourned the case to Thursday for further hearing and directed Dangde to appear in court physically and submit an affidavit.