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PMC convenes meeting after HC’s water scarcity ruling
The Additional Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has called for a meeting in response to the Bombay High Court’s directions in a PIL to address concerns related to water scarcity, shortages
The Additional Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has called for a meeting in response to the Bombay High Court’s directions in a PIL to address concerns related to water scarcity, shortages, and non-supply. Resident Welfare Associations, housing societies, and NGOs from areas such as Ambegaon Budruk, Dhankawadi, and others have been invited to present their written grievances. The meeting is scheduled for November 18 at 11:30 AM in the New Standing Committee Hall at the PMC headquarters in Shivajinagar.
In 2023, lawyer Satya Muley filed a public interest litigation (PIL 126/2023) in the Bombay High Court on behalf of multiple resident associations, challenging the chronic water scarcity in Pune’s urban areas under the PMC’s jurisdiction. Muley argued that, despite local reservoirs and dams being at full capacity, the city’s piped water supply remains grossly inadequate, with many housing societies receiving only intermittent or negligible water.
He further pointed out that this failure by PMC has entrenched a reliance on private water tankers, effectively legitimising a “tanker mafia,” and disproportionately burdening residents with high costs.
The Bombay HC has taken the matter very seriously. In April 2023, it warned PMC and related authorities of punitive costs over delays in addressing water-supply complaints, and ordered the formation of a joint special committee with PMC, PCMC, PMRDA, and other stakeholders to redress water-scarcity grievances.
The committee, comprising civic engineers, corporation officials, and representatives of housing societies, is mandated to meet regularly and ensure that housing societies have access to safe, adequate water.
