Kharadi residents apprise civic body of water woes

PUNE: Sporting black ribbons tied around their arms, representatives of 32 housing societies in Kharadi met Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials on Saturday and apprised them of the deepening water crisis in their area.
They also presented the officials with a bottle of water labelled “Rs 4.7 crore” -- the amount reportedly paid by them to water tankers every year because of PMC’s “irregular water supply”.

“There are many societies which are totally dependent on tankers despite having water connection from PMC. They don’t get a single drop of water from the civic body. Big societies have to call in three-four water tankers every day. So, we decided to raise the issue with civic officials,” said Nitin Memane, chairman of Kharadi Housing Society Welfare Association (KHSWA), a group of 42 housing societies near EON IT Park.

The meeting was brokered by Bapu Pathare, a former MLA from the area. The group’s representatives alleged that the problem of water shortage began from March this year.

“The problem started just after Holi. There are two water tanks in the area, and they are never full. Local engineers attribute inadequate water in tanks to leakages from the pipeline. We have no option but to call tankers. We suspect collusion between the tanker lobby and politicians,” said Memane.

The representatives also alleged that a large number of illegal connections has been routed for commercial purposes -- roadside eateries being one of the beneficiaries.

While PMC officials said that it would link water supply in the area to Bhama Askhed project, it is unlikely that the project would be completed before 2019. A water department engineer said the civic body was now considering supplying water through tankers to societies which do not receive any supply.

“The officials assured us that water tanks in the area will be full from Monday but we are not counting on the promise. They also told us that illegal connections will be removed. We will follow up with PMC officials and meet them again on June 9 to discuss these issues,” said Deepak Patil, vice-chairman of KHSWA.

While PMC officials acknowledged that supply in Kharadi needed improvement, it also said that builders were responsible for supply of water in areas where civic water supply was irregular.

“The high court recently passed a judgment making builders responsible for supply of water to buildings developed by them in cases where civic water supply in a given area is irregular. While we are trying to resolve water supply issues in Kharadi, there are a number of factors at work here. But the onus of ensuring adequate water supply lies with the developers of the societies,” said a senior engineer of PMC’s water department.

EOM