The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has confirmed that sewage contamination has been found in the city’s drinking water supply at nearly 60 to 70 locations. This revelation came after corporators criticised the civic administration during a general body meeting.
During the discussion, several elected representatives claimed that residents in different parts of the city have been receiving foul-smelling and discoloured tap water. They further alleged that several citizens have fallen ill after consuming the contaminated supply, even as repeated complaints to the authorities allegedly went unaddressed.
The matter was raised in the house by corporators Gafur Pathan, Vaishali Bankar, Prashant Jagtap and Ashwini Landge, who accused officials of negligence and demanded immediate corrective action.
Responding to the concerns, Water Supply Department head Nandkishor Jagtap acknowledged that leakages in pipelines had allowed sewage to mix with drinking water at several points. He informed the house that repair work would be undertaken on priority. The sewerage department has earmarked ₹20 crore for pipeline rectification and shifting works, and a tender has already been issued for the project, he said.
Meanwhile, the PMC announced that a major leak has been detected in the main pumping pipeline supplying water from the MLR tank to the HLR tank, for which immediate repair work has been initiated.
As a result, water supply was remain disrupted on Thursday in several areas including Kelewadi, Gokhale Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Model Colony, Revenue Colony, the entire Kothrud area, Vadar Vasti, State Bank Colony, Shramik Vasahat, Happy Colony, Meghdoot, Tejas Nagar, Sutardara, Kishkinda Nagar, Jayabhavani Nagar, Rambagh Colony, Hanuman Nagar, Gujarat Colony, Gadhave Colony, Dnyaneshwar Colony, Ideal Colony, Wadarwadi, Senapati Bapat Road, Janwadi, Vaiduwadi, Bhosale Nagar, Ashoknagar, Khairwadi, Shivaji Housing Society, Bhandarkar Road, Prabhat Road, Police Line and Sangamwadi, among others.
The water supply will remain suspended until the repair work is completed, the statement said. The Chief Engineer of the Water Supply Department has appealed to citizens to take note of the disruption and cooperate with the administration until normal supply is restored.
