MUMBAI, June 24: Residents of Vasai have slid into the emergency mode yet again, this time due to the faceoff between the Vasai Tanker Owners' Association (VTOA) and the villagers of Usgaon in Vasai taluka.With both warring camps refusing to concede so much as a drop over the tanker blockade being `enforced' by the Shramjeevi Sanghanata, residents are stretching their attire as far as it can go without a wash while baths have mutated into a five-minute rubdown.Some are egging on the rain gods, blocking drainage pipes on their terraces to collect water from pre-monsoon showers. Others, mainly factory employees, bring a change of clothes to work and bathe at the workplace.The tanker blockade entered its eighth day today, with the sanghatana, led by founder Vivek Pandit refusing to back down on the demand for Rs 8 lakh compensation for the family of a farmer killed in a tanker collision on June 17. The VTOA says it cannot dole out the exorbitant sum being demanded by the farmer's widow, who should haveaccepted the association's offer to pay Rs 12,000 immediately after the accident. The rest can be claimed from the insurance company with which the deceased was registered, the association adds.In a letter addressed to VTOA President, Kamlakar Mankar, the farmer's widow has demanded that the association pay Rs 8 lakh (ie, Rs 2 lakh per child). She has two daughters and two school-going boys.Pandit, for his part, denies the issue is being politicised as alleged by political leaders in Vasai, adding that the problem was not new. ``Four similar deaths have taken place at Usgaon this year itself. Since the authorities concerned have not taken any initiative to prevent such incidents from happening, we had to resort to this agitation,'' Pandit told Express Newsline. He says a circular had been issued to the VTOA by the collector some time ago restricting tankers from entering Usgaon during specified hours of the day, which has been ignored.``If my support to this family, who have lost their onlybread-winner in their time of need is called `politics', then I shall continue such politics along with my activists and the villagers of Usgaon,'' he says.When the accident took place, Pandit had said tankers from Usgaon (the main source of potable water for Vasai taluka) would have to enter the taluka ``over his dead body'' till the compensation demand is met. Today, he reiterated the challenge, saying he would not back down ``at any cost''.``I had even requested Mankar to come forward and resolve the issue in the presence of Sub-Divisional Officer Govind Bodke and Virar Police Inspector Chaudhary and myself. He has not done so till date,'' Pandit adds.``No government officer, nor the VTOA have even visited the bereaved family to offer their condolences till date,'' he adds.Washing his hands off the crisis-ridden residents' predicament, he says: ``I had told the Virar PI and the SDO on Friday last that if the respective municipalities in Vasai taluka requisition tankers from the VTOA and drawwater from Usgaon, I would have no objection. I did this in the interests of the residents.''But Vasai's denizens don't agree. As the drums of war beat fiercely in their midst, the harried populace is invoking succour from heaven.
