College of Engineering boat club out of practice due to debris and hyacinth; students approach government, PMC to solve problem

Regatta enthusiasts, college students approach government and PMC to solve problem; suggest locking in water through Bund Garden barrage

Metro and gas pipeline work on the Mula has left the famous Regatta, organised by the boat club of College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP), high and dry.

Not only have the rowers had to stop practice in the last one-and-a-half months, they also had to shift the Maharashtra state rowing championship to College of Military Engineering (CME), Pune, requesting them to lend the artificial track there for three days. College authorities, boat club members and the alumni have now written to the state government requesting them to ensure that water is made available in the river after the monsoon by closing the Bund Garden barrage gates. The government has taken cognisance of their request and has ordered the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to take necessary action. While PMC has claimed it will ensure that the debris is removed, they have pointed to practical problems like mosquito breeding may arise if the water is stagnant.

CoEP students, who are part of the boat club, gather these days for their usual meetings and discussions at the club venue inside the college campus. All they can do, however, is to stare at the kayaks and racing boats stacked on top of each other, completely unusable courtesy the debris dumped in the riverbed and the accumulation of water hyacinth. According to the students, this is the first time that the situation has escalated to a position where the club, which was established in 1928, is feeling truly helpless.

Sanket Khedkar, general secretary of the boat club, said, “Earlier, practise used to stop only for two months during monsoon. During the remaining months, we got to practise on the big stretch between Bund Garden and Holkar bridge.

But now we are not even getting a stretch of 350 m. At least seven practice and two racing boats have been damaged in a span of two months since January. We have already cancelled the annual summer camp and if this continues regatta might be affected too.”

The students claimed that the situation is so bad that two boats even met with an accident due to the reduced width of the river.

Speaking to Mirror, Shirish Bedekar, an alumni member of the boat club managing committee, said, “This year the state association’s annual rowing championship was to be held here, but we had to show and explain the condition to the organisers and then requested the CME to grant us permission to use their artificial tracks for the competition. Since this track is also used by national champions for training, we have finally managed to get three days’ access for this competition.”

Claiming that along with the reduced water level, debris from construction sites is the main problem, he added, “Recently, a gas pipeline was laid from the riverbed. Debris, almost 135 m in width and 4 m in length and depth, has been laid here for the work. On the other side, Metro too has put debris for their pillar work. Due to this, hyacinth is accumulating and the water level has gone down making it impossible for us to practise.”

Against the backdrop of this situation, the alumni association and the CoEP boat club members have written to the government requesting them to resolve the issue. While they have demanded that the debris should be removed, they have also requested the authorities to close the gates of the Bund Garden barrage after monsoon.

State irrigation department secretary Rajendra Pawar had called a meeting in the presence of PMC members and CoEP authorities at Mantralaya last week. It is following this meeting that the irrigation department has ordered the PMC to take action.

Atul Kapole , deputy secretary of the irrigation department, said, “Ideally, PMC is supposed to close the gates of the barrage after October once the monsoon is over and store the remaining water. This will help in increasing the water level. We have instructed PMC to close the gates at the right time. The additional water can flow over the barrage. We have also instructed them to take action on the debris from the gas pipeline immediately. As far as the Metro work is concerned, the issue will be resolved only when the work is done.”

PMC authorities have claimed that they will take action on the debris but said that storing water might lead to problems.

Speaking to Mirror, Mayor Mukta Tilak, said, “As far as the question of debris is concerned I will ensure that action is taken immediately, but storing of water by closing the gates might lead to other problems like increase in the number of mosquitoes and so on. We will have to take this into consideration and find a practical solution. We will see what can be done.”