Pune: 75 pc work of 24X7 Water Supply Project completed, levying water bills through water meters on the anvil
Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) 24X7 Water Supply Project has been completed. The Water Supply Department has submitted a proposal that water meters should be installed in the areas where the project work is over. Therefore, water bills are likely to be issued soon as per the reading on the water meter.
The implementation of the Rs 3,000-crore project was started in 2016 to curb water thefts and leakages so that water can be supplied 24X7 equitably to all areas. Under the project, 86 water tanks are to be built, new water pipelines will be laid and ultra-modern water meters will be installed.
The project has five packages. As many as 2.32 lakh water meters are to be set up, out of which 1.68 lakh meters have already been installed. Almost 75 pc pipeline work has been done while 66 tanks have been constructed. In all, 13 tanks building is underway while the remaining tanks cannot be built due to unavailability of land. The project had a deadline of 2022. However, the pandemic, issues in land acquisition and disputes with the contractor delayed the work. It is uncertain to estimate how long the remaining work will take due to litigations and land acquisition issues.
Though 16.32 TMC water quota has been reserved till 2032 for a population of 70 lakh by the Irrigation Department, currently only 12.82 TMC quota has been approved. In reality, the city needs 24 TMC water while the civic body has been lifting 21.82 TMC from the Khadakwasla Dam. It should be noted that the demand of the merged villages has not been included in this.
Many construction projects have been approved in the city but the civic body is finding it difficult to supply water to all. Many housing societies are buying water tankers and their monthly bills run in lakhs of rupees.
The main objective of the Equitable Water Supply Project is to plug 35 pc leakages and supply the saved water to citizens. For this purpose, the water cess has been increased by 100 pc and it is being recovered. However, it is still not clear even after eight years, how much leakage has been stopped.
The Water Supply Department has submitted a proposal to the Municipal Commissioner to start charging water bills as per meter reading in the zones, where water tanks and pumping stations have been built, pipelines have been laid and meters have been installed. Civic officials said that a couple of meetings were held on the proposal at the level of top officials.
