Gutter water used to grow veggies: State

Mumbai: It cannot be denied that water from gutters is used to grow veggies adjacent to the railway tracks, said chief minister of the state, in reply to the question asked by more than half a dozen legislators in the house.

Responding to the question whether consumption of such veggies can cause serious diseases, the state government claimed that no such report is available, but has asked railways to ensure that those growing vegetables adjacent to tracks must use clean water.

The question was raised by Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde, MLCs - Kiran Pawaskar, Narendra Patil, Hemant Takle, Jayantrao Jadhav, Amarsingh Pandit, Adv Niranjan Davkhare, Vidya Chavan, Anil Bhosale.

Replying to the questions, chief minister Devendra Fadanvis said, “Adjacent to railway tracks of Harbour Central and Western lines, from past few years railways has given permission to some of its employees to farm on the vacant railway property so that no one can encroach it. We do not deny that these people are not using water from nearby nualhas. But there is no proof that because of these vegetables people are suffering from cancer, diabetes. Even the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) doesn’t have any such study.