"Chabi" of water woes

We have always been flabbergasted and left scratching our heads trying to figure out where the hell all that water goes which gets filled up in Mumbai’s lakes during monsoon season and which is a major source of water supply to this mega metropolis.  Many times I heard residents wondering why we need to requisition so many water tankers to meet potable water demand of residents even during the season of bountiful monsoon season. Few days back in Mumbai edition of Times Of India we found the “chabi” (Key) of water woes. Below reproduced article from Times of India tries to give an insight about the function of “Chabiwalla Mafia”. Corruption and Harrassment galore!

Why doesn’t the government just hands over the management of municipal functions to private sector? Read on the article and feel disgusted at the state of affairs.

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‘Chabiwalla’ mafia behind city’s dry taps

Sharad Vyas TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Mumbai: Abountiful monsoon and brimming lakes do not necessarily guarantee an average Mumbaikar an uninterrupted supply of water. That power, in reality, lies with an unseen band of ground-level civic workers called chabiwallas, who, it now appears, have been exploiting their position to extort money from citizens besides diverting water to industries for monetary gains. Three chabiwallas were caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau last month as they demanded a Rs 40,000 bribe from residents of Powai’s Sun City Complex to fix the water pressure that the
trio had deliberately reduced. An ACB investigation later found that “a complete pipeline had been tweaked to divert water to five big industrial groups”. “We have sought log records and duty registers of chabiwallas in the eastern suburbs from the BMC. After studying some of the documents seized, it seems that this nexus is spread across the city,” said a senior ACB officer.
MONEY IS THE KEY•

Chabiwallas are civic employees in charge of valves that regulate water supply on smaller pipelines

• As in a regular tap, the pressure of water one gets depends on how much these valves are turned

• Chabiwallas have been found lowering the water pressure and, at times, shutting the supply to cash-rich housing societies to extort money

• Occasionally, they even direct water meant for residential buildings to industries and commercial establishments for pecuniary gains Bribes help turn water taps on Civic Employees Are Extorting Money From Citizens By Choking Their Water Supply Though at the bottom of the official hierarchy, the Brih a n m u m b a i Municipal Corporation’s 450 chabiwallas enjoy a powerful position. Working in shifts, they have the job of opening the valves on smaller pipelines at different hours of the day to regulate the supply of water across the city. To carry out their task, chabiwallas get help from a team of sluicemen and labourers. The more the valve is turned open, the higher the water pressure a neighbourhood receives. If the recent flow of complaints about the chabiwalla mafia is anything to go by, the civic workers often lower the water pressure on purpose and, at times, even shut the supply to arm-twist citizens into paying up. A housing society in Kandivli, for instance, suddenly found its supply decrease before a private function. When asked to correct the supply, a group of chabiwallas demanded Rs 25,000. “It was not as if we were wasting water. This was a private affair. The only way out of the jam was to pay up,” said a resident on the condition of anonymity. In another instance, a housing society in Lokhandwala found its supply terminated at the usual supply hours. The resident’s investigation revealed that the society’s “security guard, chabiwallas and tanker owners had colluded to terminate the supply so that they could share the money we paid for water tankers,” said a resident of the society.

In Kalina, an elderly woman last month paid Rs 25,000 to an “unknown BMC worker” to fix her water connection and maintain regular supply. She later found that the work was never carried out. “When she came complaining to me, it was too late. The worker had disappeared after taking her money,” said Kalina resident and activist Crompton Texeira, who has been fighting a lone battle against the water mafia in the area.

In parts of Malad like Dayabhai Patel Road, Daftary Road and Link Road, chabiwallas extorting money from housing societies is routine. “The problem is that the valve junctions here are located at a considerable distance from each other, making it difficult for us to monitor the movements of chabiwallas,” said Malad resident Navin Pandya.

Meanwhile, the call centres there are said to enjoy a free run. Local MLA Yogesh Sagar has been demanding a report from the BMC on the amount of water supplied to office buildings and call centres in Malad but to no avail. “When I monitored the pipelines to call centres, I found that excess water was being diverted to them round-theclock,” he told TOI. 

The only way to quash the mafia, BMC officials suggest, is to install an electronic system to regulate the water supply along the 4,000-km network. The system includes flow meters and actuators, timer-based devices that automatically open and shut valves.

“They (chabiwallas) are unofficially running the show,” admitted a deputy municipal commissioner from the eastern suburbs. Besides housing societies, their primary target is “hotels, industries and shops,” the officer added.

A BEND IN THE SYSTEM

 
The city draws 3,470million litres of water a day from six lakes Before being provided to the public, the water is flown into two major treatment plants using a portion of the city’s 4,000km-long pipeline network It is then directed to 24 major reservoirs located across the city From there, it is distributed equally among 113 zones at different hours The distribution system, especially at the fag end and in hilly areas, is controlled by chabiwallas. These BMC employees are in charge of valves on smaller pipelines that regulate the water supply.

 

Who Are Chabiwallas?
Civic employees, their job is to open the valves on smaller pipelines at different hours of the day to regulate water supply across the city.

                                                                

Arm-Twisting
As in a tap, the pressure of water one gets depends on how much these valves are turned. Chabiwallas lower the water pressure and, at times, shut the supply to societies on purpose.

                                                             

Money Flow 

In return for correcting the water supply, chabiwallas extort money from societies and building residents Chabiwallas have been known to extort money from residents of big slums and chawls, particularly in the eastern suburbs, during festive seasons. The attendant crisis is, many a time, diffused by the local corporator after claiming his or her share of the pie. For chabiwallas, hotels, industries and call centres are a major source of money. They regularly increase the water pressure to these establishments and, at least on one occasion, have diverted the water meant for other areas by modifying the network.