New water scheme for Pune

“The project will be commissioned on schedule,” was the only explicit commitment by the Chief Minister, giving a green signal to the civic administration to proceed with the actual work. He said the rest of the issues can be sorted out through discussions at a later stage.

At a function held at the Parvati water works this afternoon, Pune mayor Vandana Chavan, MP Suresh Kalmadi and chairman of the State Legislative Council Jayantrao Tilak strongly demanded that the State Government accede to their demand for speedy completion of the already delayed project.

They pointed out that former chief minister Sharad Pawar had assured a 50 per cent grant to the municipal council for undertaking the multi-crore project, but the same was reduced to 23 per cent by the BJP-Shiv Sena government. Even the rent of Rs 1 crore per annum proposed by the MKVDC for allowing the PMC to lay its pipeline in the baby canal was exorbitant, they said.

Joshi refrained from making any commitment on rent reduction, saying that a solution could be worked out through discussions and called on Tilak to take a lead for the same.

To the demand for a raise in the grant to 50 per cent, Joshi said every new government is duty bound to fulfill the promises made by the earlier government. “I will ascertain whether such a promise was made by the earlier government. If so, the State would consider raising the grant”, he added.

However, in the same breath the Chief Minister said that big cities like Pune should “manage to generate their own funds.” The State Government cannot just consider the demands for urban population, he said.

“You are at least getting water. I have to care for 27,000 villages which are reeling under acute water shortage,” he said asking, “Should we neglect them just because they are helpless and do not know how to voice their grievances?”

He said the BJP-Sena government was committed to provide drinking water to these villages and would be spending Rs 10,000 crore for the same. “I have to provide for funds for this project first,” he emphasised.

He clarified that this did not mean he was averse to improvement of living standards in urban areas, adding that he was holding talks with the municipal commissioner Ramanath Jha to help out PMC in launching a mega-plan for augmentation of the water supply network so that Puneites will get round-the-clock’ water supply.