She claimed the crisis extended far beyond her family. “A four-month pregnant woman from our area is admitted to a private hospital with similar symptoms. A 2.5-year-old child and three daughters from another household are also unwell. The whole neighbourhood is affected,” residents said, recalling a “very bad smell” and yellowish tap water days before people began falling sick.Sheikh Amjad, who runs a printing business in the locality, said he flagged poor water quality for nearly a year. “Around 6 months ago, sewage began mixing with the drinking water supply. We never needed an RO earlier and used water directly from the NMC connection. But we switched to bottled water after my 25-year-old son fell ill,” he said. His son first contracted typhoid and later jaundice, with the family spending around ₹60,000 for five days of hospitalisation. “The tap water turned yellow and emitted a foul smell,” he added.Another resident, Mohammad Asif, claimed civic workers took nearly two months to detect the leakage. “They finally started laying a new line and the water is better now, but until recently almost every other household had a jaundice patient,” he said.During a visit to the locality on Tuesday, TOI found several lanes dug up or recently repaired. Major pipeline work near a local mosque is still underway, leaving many residents dependent on packaged or alternative drinking water sources.However, residents maintained that complaints were raised as soon as the foul odour was noticed, but corrective measures were delayed. “Sewage water entered the line during digging work. Despite repeated complaints, no immediate action was taken. Now people are paying with their health,” a resident alleged.NMC’s epidemic officer, Dr Goverdhan Nawghare, confirmed that the health (medicine) dept received complaints of residents falling ill after consuming contaminated tap water. “A door-to-door survey was initiated in the affected area. We found at least eight patients of jaundice. NMC’s water supply team, including OCWL, was informed,” he said.Dr Nitin Wadaskar, a physician, confirmed that several patients are under treatment for symptoms consistent with hepatitis A, commonly caused by contaminated water.Responding to the allegations, NMC executive engineer (water supply) Shrikant Waikar attributed the problem to a damaged pipeline. “We laid a new pipeline and interconnection work will be completed in a couple of days, which will permanently resolve the contamination issue,” he claimed.
