Pune likely to face water cut

The city is likely to face water cuts in the coming days and the irrigation department has asked the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to chalk out a plan to manage water supply in the city within the approved water quota. To execute the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority’s order, a joint meeting was called in between PMC and Irrigation department officers on Thursday at Sinchan Bhavan.

Recently, Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority passed the order and instructed the PMC to manage its water supply within the 8.19 Thousand Million Cubic Feet (TMC).

The PMC had appealed against this decision and said that the state government had allocated the 11.5 TMC water quota for PMC which should be allocated.

Official sources from both the departments have confirmed that it is decided that Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority is like a court and its orders are mandatory on both the bodies. During the meeting on Thursday, the officials discussed how to execute the orders of Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority .

Khalil Ansari, irrigation department officer, Tatyasaheb Munde, chief engineer Pune division, Saurabh Rao, Pune Municipal Commissioner, V J Kulkarni PMC water department head and concern department officers were present for the meeting. The officials discussed the issue of water management.

Munde said, “The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority order is mandatory on both the parties and if it is violated, it would be contempt of court. The PMC will need to manage its water supply within approved water quota of 11.5 TMC and so the irrigation department has asked PMC to make their management accordingly. As water is a sensitive issue, the irrigation department would not propose any cut immediately but PMC will need to plan accordingly.”

PMC water department head VJ Kulkarni said,” The PMC would need to follow the order and need to cut the city’s water supply as per instructions. Now PMC will discuss this issue with elected members and take appropriate decision.”

As officials from both the department are in a view to follow the order and manage the water supply within 11.5 TMC, it is clear that there would be water cut very soon as the PMC average water need per year is around 16 TMC.