Bhama Askhed work to be speeded up, rehabilitation to be addressed: Girish Bapat

Farmers have been agitating against the 42-km long pipeline and a meeting would be held in Mumbai to address the issue. Drawing water from Bhama Askhed would improve supply to areas on Pune-Ahmednagar Road like Dhanori, Kalas, Vadgaonsheri, Vimannagar, Wagholi and Kharadi which face water scarcity especially during the summers.

“The farmers have opposed the pipeline as they had given their land for the dam project and they should be given compensation. We would address the issue,’’ Kamble said at the meeting. As per a government resolution, 1.3 TMC water from the reservoir has been allocated to the PMC and the first phase of the project comprises laying of a 26-km pipeline, while the second phase comprises laying a 16-km pipeline.

A two-km part of the 42-km pipeline would pass through private property. The city is dependent on Khadakwasla reservoir for water supply and with summer approaching, alternatives have to be readied, Bapat said.

While the drinking water issue would be addressed by Bhama Askhed, water for agriculture could be addressed through treated water from the Mundhwa jackwell which became operational on Sunday. The facility, which worked for only a fortnight after its inauguration, was lying unused for around two months.
Some MLAs in the DPDC raised the issue as to why it was restarted on the day the meeting was to be held, to which Water Minister Vijay Shivtare said that they are doing it phase wise. The facility would help the irrigation department stock more water in the reservoirs and the treated water would flow for agriculture activities at the rate of 210 cusecs.

The project here includes a jackwell, a pumping station and recycling plant, and the water once treated would be released into the canal in Sadesatra Nali on Pune-Solapur Road for non-drinking and agriculture purposes. The project was inaugurated on October 1 and had stopped working in the same month.