There will be no further water cuts for Pune residents, who are facing their hottest April in years.
District Guardian Minister Girish Bapat made this announcement on Thursday after inspecting work on a 12-km closed water pipeline stretching from the Khadakwasla Dam to the Parvati water works. The pipeline is expected to be operational by the end of this month.
He inspected 12 leaks along the open canal which draws water from the dam and announced that Rs. 4 crore had been earmarked to get the repairs done within a month. The Irrigation Department and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) would chip in with equal sums to fund maintenance.
The pipeline, an ambitious Rs. 200 crore project, will enable the supply of water from the dam to Pune city and save a precious 0.10 tmcft estimated to be wasted owing to leakages. Since mid-September last year, the PMC has been providing potable water to the city on alternate days .With the Marathwada drought affecting Pune’s potable water supply, the PMC has been against the Irrigation Department’s move to supply water to adjoining areas like Daund. Presently, the stocks in the four major dams supplying water to the city have plummeted to 5.50 tmcft.
Irrigation authorities have maintained that despite high evaporation, the PMC can get by with 3.8 tmcft till July 15, by which time the monsoon will have set in.
