Will act on encroachments: civic chief promises Pune again

After a heavy downpour on Wednesday night,the Pune Municipal Corporation once again promised to act on encroachments along the nallahs across the city.

After a heavy downpour on Wednesday night,the Pune Municipal Corporation once again promised to act on encroachments along the nallahs across the city and stressed on the need for storm water drains. The civic body had promised action against encroachments in June after heavy rain had flooded parts of the city.

The intensity of 100 mm rainfall in 40 minutes of the retreating monsoon was too much and every one was caught unawares. The heavy rain resulted in flooding in parts of the city and the administration has managed to ease the situation through disaster management, said municipal commissioner Mahesh Zagade.

It was found that the nallah area has either shrunk,disappeared or diverted which has disturbed the natural flow of water. A massive action will be initiated against the encroachment after the monsoon as a lot of risky spots have been identified, he said.

Zagade also blamed the wrong designs of compound walls of housing societies for the flooding. There is a need to change the design of compound walls which would include outlet for water, he said,adding,The flooding in Mumbai had displayed the damage due to unprecedented rain. The city needs to learn from it as that kind of flooding can happen in any city. The heavy rainfall in the city in June was considered an exception but it has been repeated making us take up sufficient provisions to tackle it, he added.

The PMC will now take up work to ensure normal flow of water in nallahs in Warje,Kothrud and Pashan basins on a priority,Zagade said adding that the storm water drainage issue has to be taken up seriously and the civic body requires at least Rs 2,000 crore for the same.

On broken promises,he said there was a need to make changes in the system and he was doing it by empowering the ward offices. The existing administrative culture has been allowed to grow for 50 years but there is scope for improvement, Zagade said refusing to comment on whether there was interference of political leaders in administrative matters.

Opposition blames NCP-Congress
The opposition Shiv Sena-BJP blamed the ruling NCP-Congress alliance for the flood situation . The ruling alliance has been opposing setting up of a committee of retired high court judge to ascertain the encroachment in the city. If the PMC fails to take measures then the administration and the ruling alliance will be the culprit for any untoward incident, said sena leader Shyam Deshpande. Corporator Ujjwal Keskar said that the administration should ensure that there is a green belt alongside water bodies and said it was absent in the maps of Mundhwa prepared by the administration.

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