PUNE: District Guardian Minister Girish Bapat has declared that there will be no additional water cut in the city. On Friday, Bapat took a review of different development work of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). During his meeting, Bapat instructed the civic body’s Water Supply Department not to enforce further water cut. 

The meeting was organised on Thursday after a decision of Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) by State Water Resource Department officials in Mumbai in which, Khalil Ansari, Executive Director of Irrigation Department, directed the PMC to follow the contract terms and lift the water accordingly. He further instructed that the civic body should carry out the cuts on its own.

“It will help in dealing with the water crisis. The situation is likely to worsen during summer, so steps should be taken from now. The water quota of city is around 20 per cent less compared to last year. The water cuts should be carried out accordingly,” Ansari said. 

Based on that meeting, it was anticipated that there will be further water cut. However, Bapat said in the review meeting that there will be no further water cut. “We will not take any decision right now,” he said.

One of the senior officials of PMC’s Water Supply Department said Bapat told the PMC that no decision has been taken. “After that, we have decided to continue water supply for five hours once a day which was implemented from October 2018,’’ he added.

MWRRA had dismissed PMC’s appeal to allow it to use more water. The directives stated that, as per the standard norms, the civic body should lift 8.19 TMC ft water based on its population.