Journalism of Courage
Water level in dams went up this month but Pune Municipal Corporation on Tuesday clarified that it was practically impossible to withdraw the 20 per cent water cut in the city as monsoon had arrived late and there was no hope of good rainfall in the remaining days of the season.
At the same time,the civic administration also shot down a demand for water supply twice a day.
Corporators cutting across party lines raised the issue in the civic general body meeting on Tuesday and urged the civic administration to withdraw the water cut as there was has been good rainfall in the city and the catchment area of dams supplying water to the city.
In reply,Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak said it was not possible to withdraw the water cut. IMD has predicted a weak monsoon in the coming days. Therefore,withdrawing the water cut would be risky, Pathak said,adding that effective management of available water is the need of the hour.
All the dams supplying water to the city are not yet full,Pathak said. The dams had a storage of 75 per cent by mid-August,as compared to 95 per cent last year.
The irrigation department had asked the PMC to lift 1,000 MLD every day but 1,100 MLD was being drawn to meet the demand of the city,he said.
We can make more water available to citizens from the present supply but cannot make it available twice a day. The demand to provide water twice a day is not possible when there is a demand from political parties to put in place a water management plan for 24 months against the practice of 12 months, Pathak said.
Earlier,raising the issue elected representatives said citizens have to rely on water tankers to meet the demand even when the city has recorded good rainfall. There is insufficient and irregular water supply by the civic administration in parts of the city,they said.
The civic water supply and electricity department have been blaming each other for poor water supply in central parts of city. The water supply department blamed the electrical department for not following technical guidelines in lifting water while the electricity department has been saying that they were doing their job as per norms.
