Residents of Ashele in Kalyan East staged a protest at the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation headquarters on Tuesday, September 8, demanding a reliable drinking-water supply after facing shortages for several months. The residents, who carried empty pots, buckets and water vessels, said repeated written and verbal complaints to the civic administration had not resolved the problem.
The protesters demanded regular and adequate water supply to Ashele. They raised slogans outside the municipal headquarters and displayed placards stating that access to water was a right. Residents and local representatives said the shortage had affected the Ashele settlement for several months and that assurances alone were no longer sufficient.
According to the report, the area previously received water four times a week. Residents said the supply had since become inadequate, causing difficulties for households. Local residents had approached Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) corporator Keerti Dhone over the issue. The report said Dhone had submitted written complaints and raised the matter verbally with the municipal water-supply department on several occasions, without a reported improvement.
Dhone and other local party representatives also staged a sit-in outside the chamber of KDMC Municipal Commissioner Abhinav Goyal. The participants said they would not leave until the administration provided an assurance of adequate water supply. The protest continued until civic officials agreed to give Dhone a written assurance, after which the sit-in was withdrawn.
“Residents of Ashele village have been facing a drinking-water problem for several days. Despite repeated correspondence with the administration, no action was taken, which is why we marched to the municipal headquarters with hundreds of residents,” Dhone said, according to the report. She added that the protesters would remain at the headquarters until an assurance on adequate supply was received.
The protest was attended by corporators Rahul Kot, Nilesh Khambayat, Aparna Bhoir, Tejashree Gaikwad, Vishal Garve, Swapnali Kene and Vandana Mahile, along with group leader Umesh Borgaonkar and department head Shubham Dhone, the report said.
The Ashele protest follows a demonstration the previous week over water shortages in Gograswadi and Sagarli in Dombivli East. That protest had been organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The two incidents have occurred while the Shinde Sena and BJP hold power in the civic body, prompting questions from residents about the administration’s response to local water-supply complaints.
KDMC officials’ written assurance to provide adequate water to Ashele led the representatives to call off the sit-in. The report did not specify the timetable for restoring or increasing the supply, or identify the operational cause of the shortage.
