Pune: Irregular water supply dominated PMC general body meeting on Wednesday, with corporators cutting across party lines expressing strong concerns over the issue and the hardship it was causing to the residents. Taking note of the problem, mayor Manjusha Nagpure told officials to conduct meetings at all 15 ward offices, with corporators in attendance, to discuss and work out possible solutions to the water shortage.Several corporators also complained about contaminated water supply and demanded urgent replacement of old drainage and water pipelines. “Drinking water was mixing with sewage in the Hadapsar area,” corporator and former mayor Vaishali Bankar said.Yerawada corporator Ashwini Landge said residents were not only receiving contaminated water but were also being supplied water at midnight, causing further frustration. Corporators from Undri-Mohammadwadi said overhead tanks were ready but water supply had still not begun. Representatives from Janata Vasahat demanded immediate repair of drainage lines.Representatives from the Kondhwa-Kausarbaug area said water supply had been severely affected to the locality for the past 15 days, while those from Ambegaon reported low-pressure supply. Corporators from merged areas, including Hardas Charvad, Dilip Wede Patil and Sandip Beldare, raised the issue of extremely poor water availability in the areas, forcing the residents to spend substantial amounts on water tankers.Nandkishor Jagtap, head of PMC’s water supply department, said supply issues in Kondhwa-Kausarbaug were caused by faults in the water lines, which were fixed. “Fourteen overhead tanks in Undri-Mohammadwadi were ready, and remaining work should be completed within a month,” Jagtap said, adding that detailed project reports had been prepared to improve water supply in the 32 merged areas at Rs 3,500 crore.Congress member Arvind Shinde said ward-wise meetings used to take place before every summer to discuss water supply-related problems. “The meetings should be called at the earliest,” he added.PMC to take up water charges dues issue with CMPune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is unlikely to face a cutoff in the city’s water supply, despite an ongoing dispute with the state irrigation department over outstanding dues of Rs 932 crore. During the general body meeting on Wednesday, municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said, “The matter will be taken up with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. State govt’s intervention has already been sought and discussions are needed to reach a resolution.“The irrigation department had earlier warned of halting water supply if the dues were not cleared. The municipal commissioner, however, said PMC found the department’s calculations unacceptable and had already raised the issue with Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA).Disruptions in several areasIn a separate development, urgent repairs to a leaking water pipeline near SNDT have led to supply disruptions in several areas, including Shivajinagar, Kothrud, Prabhat Road, SB Road, Bhandarkar Road, and Gokhalenagar, PMC’s water supply department has said.
