Pune, February 25: Unbelievable it may seem, but the main water line in Kasba Peth had remained choked during the past one week as metal pots, utensils, small buckets and over two gunny sacks of plastic bags flowed down from the Parvati water tank into the 15-inch diameter pipeline.The shocking revelation was made by the opposition leader Suhas Kulkarni at the Pune Municipal Corporation general body meeting today. The administration admitted the lapse on its part and the reasons cited by Kulkarni for the choking of the water main.
After receiving repeated complaints from the residents over inadequate water supply to this densely populated area in the old city, Kulkarni had sought to know from the civic officials the reason for curtailing the supply. The civic officers were taken by surprise by the complaint as water was being pumped to the area regularly.
Jha ordered an inspection. Water lines in the area were dug up at around 15 locations, but the fault could not be detected. Water connections inKasba Peth are provided through six-inch pipelines which stem from the water main (the 15-inch pipeline).
The civic officials finally decided to dig up the main water pipeline and to their surprise found that the line had choked with metal pots, buckets and plastic bags.
During the `point of information' session of the meeting today, Kulkarni charged that choking of the pipelines with plastic bags was a perennial problem. ``Now we have utensils and pots too. Are the securitymen guarding the Parvati water tanks sleeping?''
According to Kulkarni, slum dwellers from Janata Vasahat - where the supply tank is located - freely draw water from the tank using buckets and metal pots. Also, the rag pickers wash plastic bags there. Though it is a closed tank it has three-four openings, at least 1.5 feet in diameter, which are used by the slum dwellers to fetch water.
The opposition leader said that he had time and again demanded that these openings to the tank - which were made to check the water level - shouldbe covered, but in vain. Jha assured to do the needful. During the meeting, BJP corporators Sham Satpute and Shashikala Mengde complained about inadequate water supply to several areas in Kothrud, Eranwdawane, Wadarwadi,Gokhalenagar and Senapati Bapat road since the past fortnight. Jha said that he too had received such complaints from the citizens and had directed the water department officials to look into the problem.
``But, they have not been able to detect the fault yet,'' the civic chief admitted. Satpute hinted towards a possibility of the water line originating from the SNDT tank being choked with plastic bags, like the Kasba Peth line.uJha assured to step up the security arrangements at all the water tanks in the city. ``I assure that such incidents will not be repeated,'' he added.
Copyright(c)1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
