Cashing in on city’s water shortage: Opinion

A few days ago, when I set out to report on how the mafia has gained monopoly over water supply in the city’s newer sectors, I came in contact with a Gurugram-based history-sheeter who has previously been accused of extortion and murder and whom I have written about earlier.

I asked him what he was doing these days, and he casually mentioned a “new business” he had invested in. He said its profit margins were high, capital costs were low and needed a bit of “muscle power”. The modus operandi involved setting up illegal borewells in secluded areas to extract water from Gurugram’s already depleted water table before selling it off to builders, residents and distributors, he said.

“The water mafia is a symptom and result of Gurugram’s unique problem. In the newer sectors, there is no infrastructure development because of how real estate has boomed. As a result, there is a major water shortage. Since I have the muscle power, access to illegal borewells and land to operate my business, I was able to make good money out of the situation,” the illegal supplier told me with little fear of law.

He further said that he ran his “business” on the basis of extensive research and proper strategy.

He told me how his team of young men included two tech-savvy boys, who scoured the GMDA website thoroughly to understand how water is supplied to the new sectors of the city. From the website — which is easy to access and is open for public viewing — they were able to understand where and when new pipelines will be laid and the number of water tankers which the GMDA supplies to RWAs in developing areas on a daily basis. “From there, we got an idea about the total daily water demand in the areas and how much of the deficit we might be able to meet through tubewell water,” he said, adding that construction sites became a prime target for them as their water demand is incredibly high.

A few days later, a photographer and I conducted a recce in different areas of the city to find out if what he said was really happening. We wanted to see how many such “businesses” were thriving, how the water mafia actually operated, and the areas they supplied to. After searching for an hour, we found a place where a man was filling a water tanker. We knocked on the gate to enquire about the charges for one water tanker. The man, seemingly in his early 20s, introduced himself as manager of the setup. He offered me a 30 per cent discount if I bought a water tanker for the entire month. I was about to enquire further to collect more information about their pricing and operation, but upon noticing the camera on my photographer’s shoulder, he became wary and cut the conversation short abruptly.

Soon after, we went to another place but found that all similar operations we could track down in the vicinity were locked from the inside, and despite repeated calls, no one came out or reacted to our vehement knocking. Within a few minutes, young boys on motorbikes were seen doing rounds in the area. We spent roughly two hours in the area to try to speak to other suppliers but none of them wanted to open their gates.

It would be safe to assume that all operations were resumed once we left the vicinity. Despite there being among internal competition among the mafia, when they sense a threat, they learn to work as a team, and probably that is where lies the challenge for the police and the civic authorities.

First Published:
Jun 23, 2019 04:06 IST

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