Water supply distress still simmers among residents of Undri hilltop and Pisoli

Pune: The long-pending inauguration of three overhead tanks at the hands of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday is slated to bring a measure of relief to thousands of residents of NIBM Road and Mohammadwadi from their eternal water supply woes. At the same time, scores of residents living not too far away in Undri hilltop and Pisoli areas see no light at the end of the tunnel just yet. Many said that they can only hope their ongoing struggle for proper water supply will some day be a reality, too.

For now, however, residents said they are even more frustrated to watch gigantic hoardings and banners being displayed by local politicians in the run-up to the overhead tanks’ inauguration, in a race for credit to claim that water supply woes of the entire southeastern Pune zone are set to end.

Even so, Ashok Mahendale, a resident of Raheja Premier society on NIBM Annexe Road, said, “Local functionaries are just trying to take all the credit. The fact is that very few societies have water connections. The process is cumbersome and we are struggling.”

An angry Pisoli resident, choosing anonymity, said, “How can they be so shameless? Most of these people are corporators who were literally elected in Jan this year; others are MLAs who have never even bothered to check with us about our water concerns.”

Similarly, Tahseen Teerandaz, treasurer of the Sai Shraddha bungalow society in Pisoli, echoed, “Our distress has grown after seeing these huge posters set up by local politicians for the CM. Our society’s residents are mainly army veterans, who have been suffering due to improper water supply for years. There are 130 bungalows here, and each bungalow needs two or three water tankers every week, besides four to five big cans of drinking water daily.”

He added, “We have now started a signature campaign and will meet the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner soon to push for better water infrastructure. If an amenity space for a garden can be given to Undri without an approved development plan (DP), why can’t space be given to create water supply infrastructure, including construction of overhead water tanks?”

In a recent discussion with TOI, PMC commissioner Naval Kumar Ram had said that the DP for Undri-Pisoli was being finalised. “The plan is with the town planning department. However, it will take a few months before it is finalised and passed,” he had said.

But residents are not willing to wait any longer. Sunil Aiyer, a resident of Nyati Chesterfield housing society in the Undri hilltop area, said they have not had proper water supply since 2005. “Even after the area was merged with PMC in 2017, things did not improve. A senior civic official had told us that one of the three overhead water tanks that are going to be inaugurated will supply water to us, too, but there is no pipeline infrastructure for it. If PMC claims to be serious about a solution, it should halt all construction on Undri Hilltop till water supply to existing houses is fixed, as also fast-track pipeline network and storage facility work,” he told TOI.

Another resident of Sai Shraddha, Kiran Dhanraj Dudhankar, said, “Tanker operators are charging anything between Rs1,000 and Rs1,500 per booking. They say there is no water supply and we just have to pay the amount they quote. Pisoli doesn’t have a proper water source. Tanker operators are simply taking advantage of us right under the nose of the civic administration.”

A resident of the Undri hilltop area, requesting anonymity, said, “It feels like the authorities are just waiting for a tragedy to occur. Two people already lost their lives to rash driving of water tankers in April this year. Do officials need something like this to happen here again before getting their act together? Even if they start work now, water will only come to us after a few months. The problem is that no one is interested in actual work — they just love to see their photos on banners.”