The Mumbai Water Tanker Association (MWTA) on Thursday suspended supply in the city indefinitely to protest the civic body’s notices to the owners of private wells which supply water to the tankers, an official said.

The association has around 1,800 registered tankers having a capacity of 500–20,000 litres. They supply around 350 MLD water to different parts of the city, including upscale south Mumbai, MWTA spokesperson Ankur Sharma told PTI.

All of them have taken an “indefinite break” and suspended their operations for an indefinite period, he said.

The authorities have made 200 sq m land, proof of lease or ownership of well, installation of digital water flow meter, adherence to BIS standard, accurate measurement of daily intake and some other things mandatory, besides taking a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Central Ground Water Authority, Sharma said.

“It is difficult to implement all these rules in a city like Mumbai. Unless there are some relaxations in these conditions by the government, tanker services will not resume. We have shut down our trade,” Sharma said.

He said the MWTA had written letters to the Chief Minister’s Office and other authorities in connection with their issues.

Mumbai suburban district guardian minister Ashish Shelar had also written a letter to the Jal Shakti board about not taking action against the private wells, but their owners continue to receive notices from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Sharma claimed.

An MWTA spokesperson told PTI no meeting took place with authorities during the day for resolving the issue.

No meeting is scheduled for Friday either, he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) Worli MLA Aditya Thackeray, in a post on X, said many residential housing societies, large buildings, commercial offices, and businesses are going to be hit due to the strike.

The issue persisted for the past three years, but the Maharashtra government did not take it up with the Union government, he claimed.

“Today, Mumbaikars will suffer because of certain impractical guidelines made by those sitting in the government of India offices in Delhi,” he said.

Thackeray also urged the civic commissioner to apprise Mumbaikars of BMC’s plan on the water woes.

The city’s water woes would have been solved by 2026 if the previous Eknath Shinde government had not cancelled a project to set up a desalination plant, Thackeray added.

Some tanker drivers from south Mumbai said there was minimal impact of the strike since Thursday was a public holiday (Mahavir Jayanti) but the effect might get pronounced from Friday onwards.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said that the tanker strike will have “minimal impact” if limited to a few days, but “prolonged disruption” could affect construction activities of the underground station at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) as part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project, popularly called the bullet train corridor.