Irrigation dept seeks 143cr from PCMC in dues, civic body disputes bill

Pune: The irrigation department has issued a notice to Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) seeking Rs 143 crore towards pending water supply dues and penalties for alleged inadequate sewage treatment and warned of snapping supply if dues remained unpaid.A senior PCMC official said the demand also included disputed charges, adding that the civic body has already raised objections and discussions were underway to resolve the issue.In its letter, the irrigation department alleged that the corporation was drawing water beyond its sanctioned quota, a claim that the civic officials denied.Sources said the irrigation department has alleged that PCMC was treating only 275 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage against its installed capacity of 345 million litres per day (MLD) across ten sewage treatment plants (STPs) installed in the city. Untreated water, hence, was being discharged into rivers, leading to pollution, sources said."Such notices have been received in the past as well and we raised objections. The dispute over billing has been ongoing for the past few years," Pramod Ombhase, city engineer and head of the PCMC's water supply department, told TOI.Officials from PCMC's water supply department said the irrigation department has been levying 3% of total water consumption under the industrial category, which they claim was not applicable to the corporation. "PCMC supplied water for domestic and limited commercial use such as hotels, hospitals and small businesses. Bulk industrial supply was handled by MIDC. Hence, applying industrial charges was incorrect," an official said.The official added that the irrigation department has also nearly doubled raw water charges over the past three years, citing alleged pollution due to discharge of untreated sewage. This has significantly increased the civic body's annual expenditure on water supply. "The bills have risen from around Rs 25 crore to Rs 75 crore annually, which we believe was unjustified," the official said.PCMC currently spends nearly Rs 400 crore annually on water supply operations, including maintenance and infrastructure augmentation, officials added. The civic body gets 520 MLD of water from the Pavana dam and 100 MLD of water from the Andra dam. The citizens were provided alternate day water supply, citing shortage of water allocation. As per the earlier TOI reports, the city needs approximately 720 to 750 MLD to fulfill the needs.The civic body received a sanctioned volume of an additional 167 MLD of water from the Bhama Askhed dam. The work on a direct pipeline was still underway. It has also proposed further water allocation from the Mulshi dam. It was yet to receive approval with the state government.