PMC starts Bhairoba nullah restoration work late, PCB cites funds crunch

PUNE: The Bhairoba nullah desilting and clean-up plan to check flooding mostly remains on paper despite the September 2019 events when it overflowed on three occasions and claimed a life.
The nullah flows through the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) limits, starting from Yeolewadi hills to Kondhwa, Wanowrie, Ghorpadi, Koregaon Park and Kalyaninagar, where it merges into Mula-Mutha river.
The PMC and the PCB authorities had earlier spoken about steps to desilt the nullah bed.
Amit Kumar, the PCB chief executive officer, said, "The nullah improvisation proposal is pending with Director-General Defence Estates in New Delhi. We couldn't carry out de-silting work because of funds crunch. We have given our no-objection to PMC for nullah cleaning work, which is in progress."
The PMC made a Rs2-crore provision for nullah clean-up but started the work late in May.
"We have issued tenders for the clean-up of the nullah stretch under our jurisdiction. The project needs another Rs2 crore for completion and we have sought additional funds," a PMC officer said.
He said, "We first started with the Ambil Odha clean-up before turning our attention to Bhairoba nullah. The work involves cleaning up of a 10km stretch from Peshwe Talao at Katraj to Mula-Mutha river."
PMC corporator Nanda Lonkar said, "We have started cleaning work of 3km stretch of Bhairoba nullah behind Konark Pooram society and Reliance Fresh store on Salunke Vihar Road for maintaining the water-level during monsoon."
Maithili Manakwad, secretary of Wanowrie Residents' Association, said, "PMC needs to ensure a thorough job is done with nullah clean-up and desilting. We also want to know the status of removal of encroachments from nullah banks."