PCMC finally listens to residents’ pleas for water and power

Poor water supply to Wakad and Pimple Nilakh, and frequent power outages in areas of Pimpri-Chinchwad were discussed at the first public interaction between officials and representatives of the Pimpri Chinchwad co-operative housing societies federation.

The interaction for residents of ward 25 (Hinjewadi) and ward 26 (Wakad) was organised by Tushar Kamthe, corporator at Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC), recently at Yashoda Mangal Karyalaya, where several residents from Wakad and Pimpale Nilakh area came in large numbers.

It was the first time that all the 13 PCMC department heads and their officers were present at a single venue to hear the residents’ problems. Laxman Jagtap, member of legislative assembly of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with Mamta Gaikwad, standing committee chairperson, presented a review of their work and heard the problems of all residents. After the meeting, they also instructed department heads to suggest a workable solution to the problems put forth by residents.

According to Arun Deshmukh, committee member of the federation, although Wakad pays the highest tax to the civic body, it is completely neglected by officials. “The problems could have been nipped in the bud, but the number of problems not dealt with, clearly shows the mismanagement and unwillingness of officers in the area in finding a solution,” Deshmukh said.

Wakad, Hinjewadi and Pimple-Nilakh going thirsty

At the grievance redressal meet held in PCMC, poor water supply emerged as one of the major problems faced by most of the societies in Wakad, Hinjewadi and Pimple-Nilakh as compared to other areas in PCMC. Residents have had numerous visits from officials and have filed innumerable applications to sort out the matter. They also questioned why illegal tapping of water pipelines is still prevalent in Wakad.

Replying to the query, Ramdas Tambe, water department head, said, “PCMC is completely dependent on Pavana river, where water is released for 8 hours daily. It then reaches Ravet and 500 MLD (million litres per day) is pumped to various areas using Chinchwad and Thergaon gravity. It is a known fact that the water supply is not adequate, but that is because of the fast development in the area, which we have not been able to cope up with. In the past six years, the population has increased so fast that we have not managed to meet the requirements. We are trying our best and working on it.”

He explained that under the Amrut 24x7 water system plan, a hydraulic design will be deployed to ensure equitable water supply in all areas. “We will first tackle leakages from old pipelines and then deal with non-revenue water (wasted water). We will change the old pipelines using the Rs 215 crore fund, in phases. We have completed 40 per cent of the Amrut 24x7 water system and the remaining 60 per cent will be completed in two years, he said.

Residents sweating with inadequate electricity supply

One of the residents highlighted that last year, the residents were in darkness for 22 hours, especially after the first monsoon. Tejaswini Sawai, a Wakad resident, said, “We have been suffering from black outs for many years now. With the arrival of the very first rains in our area, we usually lose electricity. This happened last year too and the Maharashtra state electricity distribution company limited (MSEDCL) had promised us that they will take care of the problem. We even had several meetings last year and this year before the monsoons, but nothing has been done so far.”

According to PCMC officials, Wakad gets 22 KV electricity supply, while the rest of PCMC is setup with a 11 KV infrastructure, known to be the best. “We lack manpower to work on the ground and it is a large area to cover. We are trying our best to work out a solution as soon as possible,” said Shivaji Waifalkar, executive engineer, MSEDCL.

PCMC officials were pulled up by MLA Laxman Jagtap, who demanded that the problems be given priority and resolved.