Pune: For the past six days, around 270 flats in Baner’s Anjor society, 14 flats of Carnation society, and nearby homes in Veerbhadranagar have been receiving contaminated water that appears muddy and carries a foul, drainage-like odour. Initially, residents of Anjor society assumed that their own water tank needed cleaning. However, when the quality of water supply did not improve despite cleaning out the tank, they complained to the ward office on Wednesday this week. According to the residents, for the next two days, ward officials kept passing the buck. Finally, on Friday morning, they contacted the main water supply department. Nandkishore Jagtap, head of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) water supply department, admitted to TOI, “Prima facie, it appears that the drainage line contents are mixing with the water supply line. Our staff is investigating the exact cause, and it will be resolved soon.” With no clear timeline for a solution in sight, Anjor society residents, some of whom have fallen ill since the contaminated water supply began, have started using bottled water for all of their daily needs — a situation that is both expensive and inconvenient. A bungalow owner in Veerbhadranagar, Ravindra Garudkar, told TOI, “This is the first time such a thing has happened.” The ongoing issue has raised serious fears among residents, especially after the outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) that occurred in some city areas last year, which was at the time attributed to cross-contamination of drainage and water supply lines by experts. Anjor society resident and senior citizen Sujata Pungaliya, said her 70-year-old husband was close to being hospitalised due to a stomach infection after consuming the contaminated water this week. “I was away for a few days, and he was using this water. Even with a filter, the water is still bad. As a result, he developed a severe stomach infection and was on the brink of hospitalisation. The authorities need to address this issue immediately,” she emphasized. Several residents of their complex have reported feeling unwell, said Anjor society chairman Manoj Nair. “When we contacted the ward office, they kept asking us to call different officials. No one was taking responsibility for the issue. Frustrated, I messaged and called water department head Jagtap. He immediately dispatched a junior engineer to the site. She inspected the area and said it could take anywhere from a few hours to several days to resolve the problem. The pipelines are old, and leaks tend to develop. It is high time PMC replaces old pipelines so that taxpayers are not forced to use drainage water,” said Nair, adding that their society has also been promised a water tanker by PMC. Priya Nair, another resident, echoed, “PMC staff dug up the ground and opened chambers to check for damage. Pending repairs, they have now cut the PMC drinking water line — this halts civic supply to our society. Now, they have promised to send water tankers and said work on finding the source of contamination and repairing will take at least two more days. If it remains unresolved, they will consider installing a new pipeline. I spoke to the PMC contractor, who said a chamber has been choked and his people cleaned it out.” Nilesh Kamte, chairman of the Carnation society, stated that they also lodged a complaint on the PMC helpline earlier this week, after which some civic staff visited the area, but were unable to identify the fault. “On Thursday, PMC officials promised to send a tanker. But since our water tank contained polluted water, we had to clean it thoroughly. On Friday, they promised another tanker. However, one tanker is insufficient for the size of our society. Now, we will need to seek alternative arrangements if this issue is not resolved soon,” said Kamte.
