Pune: Use Mulshi dam water for drinking, says Ajit Pawar

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“The water in Mulshi dam is being used for power generation by Tata. The priority should be for drinking and agriculture purpose, so the state government should, instead of making it available for power generation, should use it to meet the drinking water demand of citizens of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC),” said Pawar during the inauguration of the ambitious project to reuse the sewage water for irrigation purpose. The project would ensure that PMC releases around 6.5 TMC water every year in the canal for irrigation purpose.

“The Mulshi dam water is used for power generation. The state government should pay the private company generating power on its losses of the plant being shut down and use the water for drinking purpose,” he said, adding that the power can be generated through wind and solar.

He further said that the state government has sought Rs 175 crore from PMC for drawing water from Bhama Askhed dam but the civic body should be waived off this amount as the water will be used for meeting the drinking water supply of citizens.

All the eight Assembly seats and Lok Sabha seat was won by BJP in the previous election, Pawar said. “The legislators and MP from city should urge the BJP-led state government to not put burden

of Rs 175 crore on citizens,” he said.

He said the ambitious project of reusing the treated sewage water for irrigation purpose was pushed during his tenure as irrigation minister and it has now completed. “The water being reused for irrigation purpose is not good for drinking purpose as a lot of untreated sewage is being released in the river. We have also managed to get Rs 1,000 crore funding of JICA to ensure that entire sewage generated in the city is treated properly and clean water is released in river,” Pawar said.

Shiv Sena leader and minister of state for irrigation Vijay Shivtare said that untreated water is presently being lifted and released in canal for irrigation. “It is for the urban area that the water reserved for irrigation was diverted to meet the drinking water supply demands of citizens. Thus, the water meant for irrigation is being made available by civic body after using it but it’s a pathbreaking project of PMC and would encourage other cities to take it up,” he said.

Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil said the PMC and PCMC project of drawing water from Bhama Askhed dam is stuck due to opposition by farmers losing their land for laying pipeline. “It is bound to be stalled as injustice is being done to farmers losing their land for the project. The amount of compensation offered to farmers is meagre and it needs to be reworked to get the project complete,” he said.