E-Paper
PCMC initiates action against housing societies for defunct STPs
Citizens of the twin city and members of Chikhali Moshi Pimpri-Chinchwad Housing Societies Federation on Monday wrote to the PCMC commissioner, Shekhar Singh, requesting to stop action to disconnect the water supply of housing societies who have defunct STPs
Housing societies have urged the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to refrain from disconnecting their water supply due to the defunct Sewage Treatment Plant (STPs).
The civic body from Tuesday started acting against housing societies for defunct sewage treatment plants.
Citizens of the twin city and members of Chikhali Moshi Pimpri-Chinchwad Housing Societies Federation (CMPCHSF) on Monday wrote to the PCMC commissioner, Shekhar Singh, requesting to stop action to disconnect the water supply of housing societies who have defunct STPs.
In the last week of November, PCMC issued notices to 41 housing societies for defunct STPs. The federation in the letter also claimed the survey conducted by the civic body was not done precisely and even the housing societies which have functional STPs have received notice.
Despite the request from the citizens and federation, the civic body is firm on taking stringent action against housing societies with defunct STPs. On Tuesday, chaos was reported at Alpine Aura Society when a team of around 20 civic officials visited their premises to disconnect the water supply. The society was issued a notice in the past, the officials said.
According to Ranjeet Magdum, chairman of Alpine Aura Society, an electric short circuit occurrence on November 15 damaged the entire power lines and panel, causing the STP to be shut down.
“The PCMC claims they have issued us notice but we never received them. The team came on Tuesday afternoon to disconnect the water supply. After a lot of discussion and arguments, they finally left. We have assured them that only after the electric work is completed the STP will be made functional,” he, said.
Sanjeevan Sangale, chairman of CMPCHSF said, the civic body should stop the action against housing societies until action is taken against the developers for providing defunct and inferior quality STPs and the civic staff for issuing completion certificates to such developers.
“We strongly object to the action and it should be immediately stopped. We are open for discussion with the PCMC officials,” he said.
Sanjay Kulkarni, head of the environment department at PCMC said it is mandatory for societies that have come up on land measuring over 10,000 sq m to set up plants to treat the drainage water in their respective societies and recycle it for various purposes.
“We had issued notices to 41 housing societies and given them time to restart their STPs. We will continue to take action against such errant housing societies. This is the rule and we are enforcing the same,” he, said.
