The strike was called off later in the afternoon after assistant municipal commissioner (general) Daulat Desai and deputy city engineer (water) V G Dhadphale promised that the water problem in the area will be solved within the next three months.

They also assured that the work of installing four connections would begin tomorrow itself. However, the residents fear that the PMC's promise will not come off as this is for the second time in six months that the civic administration has promised to solve the water problem in Bhusari Colony within a deadline of three months.

``We would not rest till our water problems are solved completely. We are going to intensify the agitation after four months in case the civic officials fail to keep their word this time,'' says the Bhusari Colony Nagari Samasya Sudhar Samiti president Bandusheth Kemse.

Over 30,000 residents of Bhusari Colony have been facing an acute water shortage as the civic administration has not yet started the water supply to the vast area off the Paud Road.

Most of the housing societies have dug their own borewells to deal with the problem. However, even the groundwater in this area is polluted due to the seepage of drainage water from various septic tanks. As a result, the residents are facing a grave health hazard, said Kemse.

Getting no response, the residents came together under the banner of the Bhusari Colony Nagari Samasya Sudhar Samiti and submitted a number of memorandums to the civic officials as well as the mayor since November last year. However, nothing has happened so far, he added.

The civic administration had given a written assurance to the residents saying that the water problem in the area would be solved within three months on March 22. Kemse said that the residents decided to go on indefinite hunger strike when the civic officials failed to take concrete steps to deal with the crisis.