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The
BMC supplies
potable water to
the city, most of which comes from the Tulsi and Vihar
lakes, as well as a few lakes further north. The water is
filtered at
Bhandup, which is
Asia's largest water filtration plant. Even
India's
first underground water tunnel will come up in Mumbai. The
BMC is also
responsible for the road maintenance and garbage
collection in the city. Almost all of Mumbai's daily
refuse of 7,800 metric
tonnes is transported to dumping
grounds in
Gorai in the northwest,
Mulund
in the northeast, and
Deonar in the
east.
Sewage treatment is carried out
at Worli
and Bandra,
and disposed off by two independent marine outfalls of
3.4 km (2.1 mi) and 3.7 km (2.3 mi) at Bandra and Worli
respectively. A third outfall at Malad is in the planning
stages.
Electricity is
provided by
BEST in the
island city, and by
Reliance Energy,
Tata Power,
and
Mahavitaran
(Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd) in
the suburbs. Most of the city's electricity is
hydroelectric and
nuclear based.
Consumption of electricity is growing faster than
production capacity. The largest
telephone
service provider is the state-owned
MTNL, which held a
monopoly
over fixed line and cellular services up until 2000, and
provides fixed line as well as mobile
WLL services.
Cell phone
coverage is extensive, and the main service providers are
Vodafone Essar,
Airtel,
BPL group,
Reliance Communications
and
Tata Indicom.
Both GSM
and
CDMA services are
available in the city.
Broadband internet
penetration is increasing in the city, with MTNL and
Tata being the
leading service providers.
Since 1995, many parts of
the city also have access to piped gas, provided by
Mahanagar Gas Limited, which also provides compressed
natural gas to 127 gas stations.
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