Punekars show disregard for judicious use of water despite scarcity

Despite water crisis in Pune, residents seen wasting water by washing cars, cleaning premises with water, ignoring PMC's orders for judicious use.

PUNE: At a time when parts of Pune are reeling under a water crisis and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has issued explicit orders for the judicious use of water, a Hindustan Times team has found quite a few Punekars disregarding the instructions and wasting water during a visit to some areas of the city on Sunday.

At Model Colony, a man was seen washing his car while a few metres away, the entire premises were being cleaned with water. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

At Model Colony, a man was seen washing his car while a few metres away, the entire premises were being cleaned with water. At Gokhale Nagar and Jan Wadi, bungalows were being washed with water.

Adinath Kulkarni, a resident of Karve Road, said, “On the one hand, people are asking for an increase in water supply whereas on the other, they are showing a complete disregard for the judicious use of water.”

At Erandwane, a man was seen cleaning his showroom using large quantities of water. “I had to clean the steps of the showroom since they were covered in mud and stains. Merely cleaning them with a wet cloth would not have been enough,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this week, Pune district collector Suhas Diwase held a meeting to discuss water shortage in the city and the steps being taken to mitigate the same. The meeting was attended by officials from the water supply department of the Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and district municipalities.

Amid dwindling dam water stock, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has already instructed car washing centres not to use water supplied by the civic body to wash cars. Similarly, instructions have been given for the use of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) water for construction activities.