Pune: Thousands of residents of Mohammadwadi, NIBM Road Annexe and Undri continue to wait for 24×7 water to reach their taps, well over two months after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated new overhead tanks for their areas with the promises of regularising this supply.Even housing societies that have begun receiving Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) supply since then say it could be described as erratic at best, with several residents complaining of muddy and discoloured water. Many citizens also pointed out that pipeline works appear to be incomplete, with digging activities still rampant despite the ongoing monsoon.For instance, Vijay Dalvi, a resident of Ganga Florentina housing society on NIBM Road Annexe, said his society got PMC water in the last week of May after an eight-year wait, but the relief has been short-lived. “Supply has been irregular. For more than a week now, we have been receiving brown, contaminated water that is not even fit to use for washing. On Sunday last week, clean water finally flowed out of the taps, but civic officials still said it needs to be tested. Earlier, they had said there were leaks in their pipelines and they were trying to trace the source,” Dalvi told TOI.Fadnavis had inaugurated the long-delayed water project on May 17 this year amid much fanfare, with civic officials assuring residents that their decades-old dependence on private water tankers would soon end. The overhead tanks, built nearly eight years ago, had remained unused due to the absence of a functional distribution network.However, residents said the project was launched before the infrastructure was fully ready. Ashok Mahendale, a resident of Raheja Vistas Premiere Condominiums, agreed that supply has been inadequate and inconsistent. “Last week, water was supplied for barely two hours a day and pressure was extremely low. PMC officials assured us that things would improve within a week. It appears that they rushed inauguration and started trial runs only afterwards. Since then, roads have been dug up repeatedly in the name of repairing pipelines,” he pointed out.Continuous road digging, particularly around Ghule Chowk and the stretch leading to Dorabjee Paradise housing society, has become another major concern. “How can roads be dug up during the monsoon? For the last 10 days, different stretches have been excavated but not restored properly. They are simply filling them with stones, making the roads dangerous and slippery. It looks like they are guessing where the leaks are instead of following a proper plan,” said a resident of Imperial Towers Housing Society, requesting anonymity.Kishor Baligar, secretary of Dorabjee Paradise housing society, echoed the frustration and said, “We are yet to receive new water connections and continue to depend entirely on tankers. We heard that the bungalow society within our premises recently got water supply, but commercial establishments like Royal Heritage Mall, located right next to three overhead tanks, are still waiting. The entire situation has become a joke.”Ward no. 41 corporator Nivrutti Anna Bandal acknowledged the problems. “Along with the old pipelines, new lines are also being laid, which is why excavation work is continuing. Water supply has been inconsistent in some areas and contamination occurred because of pipeline leakages. Work is progressing rapidly and we expect the system to stabilise within the next one-and-a-half months,” he told TOI.Rajesh Shinde, executive engineer of the PMC Camp office’s water supply department, said all applications for new water connections had been approved. However, he declined to comment on supply-related issues. “All applications received for new connections have been cleared. Issues related to water supply and pipeline operations are being handled by another section,” he said.
