Mumbai Mantralaya has introduced fortnightly cleaning of its water tanks and regular water-quality testing after employees complained of illness linked to contaminated water supplied inside Maharashtra’s state secretariat. Test reports will also be shared with employees through WhatsApp groups, according to a report by Navbharat Times – Mumbai.
The complaints surfaced in July, when employees alleged that contaminated water had been supplied at Mantralaya for three consecutive days. The reported symptoms included vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach pain and fever among several officers and staff members. The number of affected employees was not specified in the report.
The situation also reportedly led to an increase in patients visiting the secretariat’s hospital. However, the report said that water testing conducted at the time did not identify any significant problem in the tanks. Despite that finding, the administration has decided to formalise more frequent cleaning and testing rather than rely only on individual complaints after an incident.
Sachin Kamble, a sub-engineer with the Public Works Department, said the water tanks were being cleaned every 15 days and that water samples were being tested regularly. The testing reports are to be made available to employees through WhatsApp groups, creating a direct channel for communicating the quality checks inside the government complex.
The decision is significant because employees and officials working at Mantralaya are required to depend on water supplied through the building’s tanks rather than routinely relying on bottled water, according to the report. Ensuring the safety of that supply therefore depends on the condition of the storage tanks, the quality of incoming water, the cleaning process and the transparency of testing results.
The latest complaints also revive an issue reported at Mantralaya in 2019, when employees had fallen ill after consuming water from the secretariat. The recurrence of complaints has placed renewed attention on the maintenance of water infrastructure in a major government building that houses offices of ministers and senior officials.
The reported response combines preventive maintenance with disclosure of test results. Cleaning at 15-day intervals is intended to reduce the possibility of contamination within storage tanks, while regular sampling is expected to identify problems in the supplied water. Sharing reports with employees could also allow staff to see whether the water being provided meets the administration’s stated quality checks.
The report said that no fresh complaints of contaminated water had been received after the new arrangements were put in place. It did not provide details of the testing parameters, the laboratory conducting the analysis, the specific cause of the July complaints or the number of samples collected.
Mantralaya is located in Mumbai’s central administrative district and is one of the city’s most important public buildings. The Public Works Department is responsible for the maintenance-related measures described in the report. The fortnightly cleaning and regular testing regime will now serve as the administration’s stated mechanism for addressing concerns over the building’s water supply.
