In a tough stance to ensure compliance with its directive of using water from sewage treatment plants (STPs) for construction purposes, municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale has ordered the water department to submit within a week a detailed report on the current status of usage of treated water at construction sites.
The PMC commissioner’s order comes at a time when it was brought to his notice that only 50 to 80 tankers of treated water were deployed at different construction sites during the past one week.
In making it mandatory for construction sites to use treated water for all their construction activities, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is aiming to save fresh and potable water and reduce groundwater wastage in light of the prevalent water shortage and imminent water crisis facing the city.
In his order, the commissioner has stated that in case of non-compliance with regard to the usage of STP water, construction work at the sites will be halted with immediate effect on a mass scale. The PMC engineering department in its survey found that construction activities are underway across 50 lakh square feet area of the city which in turn has created a huge demand for water.
Furthermore, onsite inspection reports revealed that developers are not complying with the PMC order. Bhosale further said that due to rainfall shortage, water level in the dams is low which has affected water supply to the city. He advocated comprehensive planning for saving water and using available stocks till the beginning of the monsoon season.
According to the PMC administration, residents of the newly merged villages are facing the worst water crisis and the civic body is supplying water tankers to these areas on a war footing so that no inconvenience is caused to them.
The civic body recently served notice to 200 site developers seeking an explanation as to why the work should not be stopped given that treated water is not being used for construction activities.
According to the PMC, a total 326 construction projects are underway in the areas in its jurisdiction out of which, only 128 are using STP water. The remaining 208 construction projects are flying in the face of the order issued by the PMC commissioner.
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