Izzat ka Pani: The story of a Mumbai resident’s long struggle for piped water

A video feature on the decade-long struggle of Abrar Salmani of Bhim Nagar, an informal settlement in Mumbai, to access his right to water.

Izzat ka Pani depicts the struggle of Abrar Salmani, resident of Bhim Nagar, Mankhurd, one of at least 62 informal settlements in Mumbai that are denied legal water access and have no piped water supply.

This film describes Salmani’s decade-long journey to access his Right to Water, a prerequisite to the Right to Life, guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Through this journey, we take a glimpse into the lives of Mumbai’s urban poor, the political and systemic injustice they face when trying to access water and sanitation, as well as the on-going efforts of citizen collectives to reform this system.


Read more: What it takes to get water connections for 800 families in Andheri’s informal settlements


Note: This video story has been produced with the inputs from Accelerating Access Coalition (AACO) and other third party resources. Accelerating Access Coalition (AACO) is a consortium that aims to prioritize the agenda of improving citywide inclusive and resilient access to Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) and Healthy Spaces for improved health and well-being outcomes and economic prosperity for all. However, all views expressed by the author(s) in the article are of his/her/their own and AACO does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by views, errors or omissions of the author(s).

Also read:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Digging a borewell in Chennai? Here’s a guide to groundwater extraction rules

This explainer provides a comprehensive overview of the dos and don'ts for domestic and commercial groundwater extraction in the city.

Groundwater is a vital resource in Chennai, especially given the city's water scarcity challenges. Of the 51 revenue blocks in Chennai where groundwater is extracted, 46 were overexploited in 2024, as reported by Citizen Matters. That's why strict rules are in place to ensure sustainable usage and to prevent over-extraction. Chennai is the first Indian city to have a comprehensive automatic groundwater monitoring system, introduced in 2021, with 200 groundwater monitoring devices and 20 rain gauges across 15 zones, to assess the groundwater level across the city. However, experts point out that not much is being done with this data.…

Similar Story

Mumbai: Will you be affected by the proposed new water charges in BMC’s budget?

The BMC is set to levy water charges on unmetered properties in Mumbai. Here's everything you need to know about this decision.

In its 2025-26 budget, the BMC declared that it would start levying water charges on unmetered properties. To this end they have already started a survey of properties to fix a rate for these water charges. But what does this mean for the people of Mumbai? Who will be affected by this? Here’s what you should know about the decision that the BMC has taken. What is an unmetered property? Any premises which does not have a meter to measure the consumption of water is called an unmetered property. Most unmetered properties are in Mumbai City (excluding the suburban districts).…