CHENNAI: Several small mosques in the city are asking patrons to contribute funds to meet the monthly water expenses. Fayaz Ali, a committee member of a mosque in Choolaimedu, says he has never before seen such a prolonged crisis. "We have had to manage without water for couple of weeks, but never for months together like this time."
"Every couple of days, we are having to spend Rs 3,000 to buy water. We are having to seek donations from regular visitors to meet this expense," says Fayaz. Larger mosques, which can afford the money, say they aren't getting enough supply to meet the needs of the high number of visitors. It takes minimum 15 days to get water through private tankers.
To minimise the consumption, some mosques are performing Wudu (cleansing ritual) using clean sand instead of water. During Ramzan, a few mosques in Gowrivakkam near Medavakkam put up boards, asking people to cleanse at home before coming to mosque.
"The mosque I visit, in Medavakkam, does not get water through bore wells anymore. They have fixed two 'Sintex' tanks which is filled with water bought from private tankers. The situation at mosques in Karur, Salem and Coimbatore is no better," says Umar Farook, a resident of Gowrivakkam.
"We pray six times on Friday and five times on other days. A small mosque has around 80 devotees on average while bigger ones have around 400. Meeting this demand is a big challenge," says the moulana of a mosque in Triplicane.