PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) water supply has not been regularised still in housing societies of Kharadi after the Mutha right bank canal breach on Thursday.
Private tanker operators are charging exorbitant rates, leaving residents at the mercy packaged drinking water for utility and drinking purposes.
The irked residents took to social media to highlight their plight on Sunday afternoon. The Kharadi Housing Society Welfare Association (KHSWA) said, “It’s understood that work was in progress to repair the damaged wall of the canal near Sinhagad Road, but for past four days, majority of the societies in Kharadi are not receiving PMC water supply. What alternate provision has been made by PMC to fill the gap?”
Deepak Patil, member of the association, and resident of Gulmohar Queens Town Society, said, “There are 40 societies under this association in Kharadi and our society has 132 flats. It is understood that due to the canal breach, the water supply has been affected. But it has been four days now and the PMC has not yet regularised water supply in the societies.”
“Till Friday, the residents of these societies somehow sustained on tankers and by using less water as much as they could. However, from Saturday onwards, the rate which was Rs 700 per tanker has been increased to Rs 1,000 and above. When asked about the increased rates, they said that the borewells are all dried up so we are charging more. The taste of the drinking water provided by the tankers from Thursday was also different,” Patil added.
Milind Mahajan, a resident of Forest County and member of the association, said, “We are now depending on water bottles and big cans of packaged drinking water for utility and drinking water. When we called the PMC on Saturday, they said that from Monday, the water supply will be regularised, but they are not providing us with any help.”
Sushobhan Das, a resident of Ganga Constella Society, said, “Our society has a huge number of flats, which is around 720 and we need three-and-a-half-lakh litres of water every day. On a daily basis, we order 12 to 13 tankers, but after Thursday’s incident, the number has increased threefold to 40 to 42 tankers a day.”
“Also the PMC is helpless on this issue and they cannot be blamed as this was a sudden incident and the repair work is also being carried out. We were informed by the Pune Municipal Corporation that the issue will be resolved and the water supply will start from Tuesday morning,” Das added.
