What the 54-year-old tailor has experienced almost every day since he came to Mumbai from his native Uttar Pradesh as a teenager was strongly reflected in a Transparency International (TI) — the global watchdog on corruption — report released this July.

The report, titled ‘Corruption in Water Sector 2008’, was based on surveys and secondary information like media reports, police records and views of experts. All the factors were extrapolated to arrive at a total corruption burden on countries in the water sector. Of the 180 countries sur veyed, India ranks 72nd in water transparency along with China, Brazil and Surinam.

The report strengthens Hindustan Times’ recent exposés of E. coli and other contamination in drinking wa ter, and pollution in lakes like Bhatsa from where 60 per cent of the city's water comes. Water-related ailments cost the Indian economy 73 million working days each year.

According to the survey, everybody in India has to pay bribe — directly or in directly — to get water; while 80 per cent of the population pays it directly to government officials, 20 per cent pays to touts. In large cities like Mum bai, it may not be individuals but housing societies that bribe officials.

More than 25 per cent of actual val ue of irrigation contracts gets drained by corruption, states the TI report. Corruption in the water sector is escalating poverty and jeopardising food security in the country .

“The bribes were shared between officials and then funnelled upwards through the political system, making it especially hard to break the cycle of collusion,” states the report.

Sheikh, for instance, who otherwise claims to be a man of principles, has to pay the bribe because at stake is something none can live without. He spends almost 20 per cent of his measly income of Rs 4,000 a month in getting clean drinking water.

Shivaji Nihman, senior police inspector of Shivaji Nagar police station, under which this slum falls, sympathises with Sheikh but said his duty is to catch people selling water illegally. “It is a grave situation. Almost every day we conduct raids on the illegal trade of selling drinking water and have about 300 cases a year,” he said. “The supply is for about three lakh people; the local population is 10 lakh.” The civic water is contaminated, says Sheikh, filling up two glasses — one with the water supplied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the other with what he buys.

The civic water does look murky .

Nihman knows why. “Pilferages in the supply line cause contamination from sewerage.

Even at the police station, we cannot drink it,” he said.

“Water no longer belongs to the community. Commercial interests find it easy to target the water sector in collusion with officials. In watershed management projects, financial leakages are about 30 to 45 per cent of approved amounts,” said Rajendra Singh, Magsaysay award-winner from Rajasthan known for his pioneering community work in water preservation. The aim is to attach a higher price tag to water, he feels.

“Now only people with money can afford water.” Indeed, as the survey showed, in cities like Bangalore, 10 per cent of the richest households received more than twice as much in water subsidies as the poorest 10 per cent. It's no wonder that people like Sheikh are being pushed on the wrong side of the law.

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