Rider follows word on water supply from Pune's Bhama Askhed

PUNE: The

irrigation department

has now come up with a rider for the

civic body

to ensure assured supply of 2.65 TMC water to the city’s eastern parts following completion of the

Bhama Askhed pipeline

.


The irrigation department wants the

Pune Municipal Corporation

(PMC) to reduce its lifting of water by 2,67 TMC from

Khadakwasla

once the latter starts using water from the

Bhama Askhed

dam. The current contract allows the

PMC

to lift 11.5 TMC water from Khadakwasla every year.


PMC officials said the irrigation department’s advice to the civic administration to utilize less water would affect water distribution in the city. An official said Pune’s population has grown fast after 2011, when the water quota was fixed at 11.5 TMC. Eleven villages were merged in the city limits two years ago. Twenty-three more villages are supposed to be merged in the municipal limits. The official said any reduction in the existing quota would not be feasible for the civic body to ensure seamless distribution of water.

Aniruddha Pawaskar, head of the PMC’s

water supply

department, said, “We are not considering any reduction in water quota. We have not received any letter from the irrigation department.”

An official said the civic administration was looking forward to a revision of water quota to 18 TMC, considering the increased population. “The PMC wants at least 18 TMC water. Even if we get water from Bhama Askhed, the city’s demand will not be fulfilled. There is no question of any reduction in the existing water quota,” said Vivek Velankar of citizens’ group Sajag Nagrik Manch.

An irrigation department official said, “The PMC is advised to reduce lifting of water from Khadakwasla in proportion to the quantum of water it will use from Bhama Askhed. For instance, if PMC lifts 2 TMC water from Bhama Askhed, it should reduce the same quantum of water use from Khadakwasla.”

Over 10 lakh citizens of the eastern parts of Pune along Ahmednagar Road, including Wadgaonsheri, Chandannagar, Lohegaon, Dhanori and Kharadi are expected to get assured water supply from the PMC that recently completed the Bhama Askhed pipeline. Water will come from the dam 50km away in Khed taluka via the pipeline.


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