The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will not impose water cuts in the Nagar Road areas until water contamination issues are resolved, civic officials said on Tuesday. The clarification came even as the civic administration plans water cuts across civic limits from next week due to water scarcity.
Commissioner's Assurance
“The problem of polluted water and streamlining of water supply will be resolved on priority here. Till then, water cuts will not be imposed in these areas,” confirmed PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram.
A delegation of PMC officials, including Ram, visited the Bhama Askhed water supply station on Tuesday, a day after citizens and corporators from the Nagar Road areas staged an agitation at the civic headquarters in Shivajinagar.
Residents' Complaints
The civic chief also spoke to residents after the visit. Many said they have been receiving contaminated water for around a month and demanded immediate corrective measures, citing a major health hazard. Corporators reiterated that citizens have been complaining about polluted water for weeks, but PMC failed to take cognisance of the issue.
Residents of Dhanori, Tingrenagar, Nagpur Chawl, Shantinagar, Vimannagar and Wadgaon Sheri highlighted irregular supply and yellowish, foul-smelling water from their taps.
Action Plan
Ram said an expert team will visit the locations and collect water samples on Wednesday. After testing results, a future plan of action will be decided, including measures to reduce contamination.
Regarding the Bhama Askhed water project, civic officials said the pumping process has been disrupted due to frequent power outages on the Chakan-Karanjvihire power line, which supplies electricity to the pumping station and water treatment plant (WTP). The water leaving the treatment plant is fully purified but gets contaminated further down the line, they said.
“A meeting with MSEDCL executive engineers and other officials will be scheduled. It will focus on dealing with frequent power outages and their adverse impact on the purification plants and pumping station,” Ram added.
On Saturday last week, the mayor’s office organised a visit to the affected areas to discuss the contaminated water issue. “A comprehensive inspection of the entire network from the WTP through to the distribution system should be carried out. Water samples from various residential properties must be collected for scientific testing,” city mayor Manjusha Nagpure had said.
