Shetty announced his decision at Mayor Nandu Satam's press briefing held after the weekly Mayor-in-Council (MiC) meeting. He put all the blame on `certain' press persons who wrote against the project and the Opposition. His own colleagues in Bharatiya Janata Party had pooh poohed the project, stating that potable water be first made available to all before embarking on such a venture.

"The project was welcomed by all members of Shiv Sena as well as the BJP. But the reporters in Mumbai painted quite a different picture and publicised it as `Sale of water meant for poor in the slums of Mumbai to the rich'. The Opposition was also against the project.''

The Deputy Mayor stated that now emphasis will be laid on expediting the Mumbai-III A Project costing Rs 688 crore with assistance from Mumbai Metropolitan RegionalDevelopment Authority (MMRDA). This project is aimed at supplying an additional 355 million litres daily (mld) to Mumbai, he added.

The Mayor said that a decision was taken today on providing water to schools, hospitals and religious shrines or community halls who have been denied water supply because they did not have occupation certificate for some reason. ``Rather than have water robbed from pipelines, it is better to provide water at a higher rate proving economically beneficial to the BMC. One third of the regular supply will be made available at double rate with an advance deposit of six months. The decision was taken on humanitarian grounds. However, religious shrines that are on footpaths or on road-lines will not get this facility,'' he said.

Regarding provision of water to buildings that have violated free space index (FSI) rules, Satam said the MiC will take a decision within a fortnight.

Meanwhile, the Mayor's flying squad nabbed seven vehicles on New Year's night at the octroi check post onthe Mumbai-Panvel Highway and confiscated 250 tonnes of beef from a truck while the other six yielded Rs 7.50 lakh worth of cattle meat. ``With the prosecution becoming stringent and 10-fold increase in fines, prospective violators know that it is better to pay up than get into a mess,'' Satam said.