Repairs to Pashan station begin

It provides 45 lakh litre water daily. The Rs. 735 crore mega water project suggests that the Pashan station be closed down. Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Agarwal has invoked emergency powers for repairing a filter bed, but he maintains that no decision has been taken on shutting down the station.

The station has four filtration beds. Shockingly, one of them has been non-functional for over ten years. Weed and other plants have grown there. The slow sand filter beds, thanks to inadequate maintenance, have over the years formed mud deposits and become useless. Corporators and residents allege that Pashan lake (from where raw water is taken for the filter beds) is contaminated by the flourishing illicit liquor dens around it and with the drainage water released from the ARDL colony, Bharat Electronics and Bawdhan.

PMC standing committee chairman Ramesh Bodke, who visited the site with corporators and officials, lamented that a fine pumping station has gone to waste due to sheer neglect. Each filter bed requires Rs. 6 lakh for repairs, but the PMC has sanctioned only Rs. 5 lakh. The PMC has also to decide on cleaning of the Pashan lake. Assistant engineer (water supply) Prakash Khanbarkar said the PMC cannot afford to maintain small water treatment plants where the slow sand media required regrading. Not surprisingly there are only two employees at the site which requires no less than 20 labour and technical staff.

According to assistant engineer (drainage) N.S. Salunkhe, the short life span of septic tanks in the area around Ram river releases effluents into it. A drainage line from Bawdhan to Someshwar temple is needed, he said. The additional load of water supply to the affected areas is being borne by the Chatuhshrungi water works, which already provides water to Khadki, Pune-Mumbai highway area, Dapodi, Bopodi, Aundh, Baner, Balewadi and parts of Pashan.