Chikhali residents see red over contaminated water, demand concrete action from PCMC

According to the residents of Patil Nagar and the adjoining areas in Chikhali, Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has not taken any action despite their complaints of getting contaminated drinking water for the past one month.

According to these residents, more than 250 families staying in Patil Nagar and the adjoining areas have had to deal with contaminated drinking water in addition to the water shortage that they have already been facing. While the PCMC has carried out repairs in the past, this has not alleviated their plight. Area residents have approached the ‘F’ ward office of the PCMC multiple times in this regard. The residents are now demanding a permanent solution to their problems. On Wednesday, Vikas Sane, chairman of the Chikhali Moshi Housing Society Federation (CMHSF), has lodged a complaint with the PCMC to this effect.

Sane said that the drinking water- and drainage- lines lie adjacent to each other in Patil Nagar and there is a possibility of leakage in these lines due to which drainage water may be entering the drinking water line. “The PCMC officials only visit when the problem becomes acute; they just flush the line. Within a few days, the problem arises again. There has to be a permanent solution to this problem. Temporary solutions are of no use, and are a wastage of time and resources. We want the entire line to be changed so that even in future, residents do not have to face such issues,” Sane said.

P D Ramkar, another resident of the area, said that filth and dirt is often mixed with the tap water. “We informed the PCMC’s water supply- and drainage- departments about the issue. But hardly any action has been taken by them. Some civic officials did visit the spot on Thursday only to find sewage water entering the drinking water pipeline,” Ramkar said.

Rahul Mehta, yet another aggrieved resident, said, “We have been demanding adequate and clean water. There are around 250 families living in this area. We get yellowish-coloured drinking water and it has drainage-like odour. Many people have fallen ill after drinking this water. The residents are complaining of a bad stomach, stomach ache and vomiting due to this contaminated water,” Mehta said.

When contacted, Ramnath Takle, executive engineer, PCMC water supply department, said that the drainage line has got choked and that the respective department has been asked to carry out repairs. Takle said that the contamination is due to some leakage and they will check the same. “If the water line has any issues, we will change the lines. The drainage line is getting choked up regularly and even in the past, blocks have been removed. Till such time the block in the drainage line is removed, we have decided to flush out the drinking water line and supply drinking water through tankers to the area residents,” Takle said.