Unable to bear the ongoing severe water crisis that has plagued the Mumbra-Kausa township for several days, residents sought to make their point with a novel protest on Saturday. Around 1,000 local citizens took to the streets in pouring rain, embarking on a “shav yatra” (funeral procession) to the Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) water department office, warning the authorities of consequences if their problems were not addressed.

“We have complained about lack of water supply so many times, but it seems the authorities are not asleep but dead—there is no one to hear us,” said social activist Marziya Shanu Pathan, who led the protest. They were accompanied by leader of opposition in TMC, Ashraf Shanu Pathan. The protestors included men, women and children from the locality. They marched from Darul Falah masjid to the water supply office, where, upon finding the doors locked, they smashed pots in front of the entrance. Angry demonstrators tried to enter the office by climbing over the gate. However, the police stopped them.